Man burned when batteries to vape device explode

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A Metro Atlanta man has a warning for anyone who vapes. Kyle Petty is now in Grady's burn unit with second and third degree burns after the batteries to his vape mod exploded.

Petty said he was sitting on his bed in his Chattahoochee Hills home, when suddenly the spare batteries to his vape mod he had in his pocket burst into flames.

“It was like fireworks going off. Then my pants caught on fire and the batteries were stuck to my leg. I grabbed them and they exploded in my hand,” said Petty.

His wife was putting their daughter to bed and heard him scream.

“When I got to him his pants leg was blown off, his hands were black,” said Melody Petty.

She called 911. Her brother-n-law, who is a Chattahoochee Hills Volunteer Firefighter was the first one to respond.

“When I went into the house, I saw my brother-in-law white as a ghost, his pants leg burned off, his hand burned pretty badly and he was going into shock,” said Neal Wall.

Wall said he cut the rest of his pants off and tried to keep him calm until paramedics arrived. Wall said then he made sure the fire didn't spread to the rest of the house.

“There was residue from sparks on the ceiling of the bedroom, burn marks in the carpet,” said Wall.

Petty said he has heard about vapes exploding, but thought it happened under unusual circumstances.

“I've heard if you do certain things with the mod, tweak it, it could blow up, but we didn't do that, we were just normal people doing the normal vaping,” said Petty.

Now he and the rest of his family said they done with vaping and they want this to be a warning to others about how dangerous these batteries can be.

“I just want people to be aware. Obviously, it's happening more than people think it is,” said Melody Petty.