MOUNT PLEASANT, Utah (KSTU) – A Utah mother claims that her 3-year-old son was badly burned after an e-cigarette exploded, igniting his car seat. Kinzie Barlow told a local TV station she was driving in Provo on Friday with her son, Khonor, when she noticed a strange smell. “Then there was a big bang, and kind of a flash, and there’s smoke everywhere,” she said.
Barlow said her e-cigarette had exploded in its charger, shooting out a white-hot copper coil that bounced off the ceiling and landed in her son’s car seat. She says the coil had burned through the fabric cover and melted the hard plastic, sending flames shooting up the little boy’s body.
She said her son was screaming, “Mom, get me! Get me!” Barlow attempted to put the fire out with her shirt sleeve, but that caught fire as well. She then doused the flames with an iced coffee.
Provo Fire Marshal Lynn Schofield said he has no doubt Barlow’s White Rhino e-cigarette exploded, citing a separate but similar incident in Provo.
Barlow told local news that she had no intention of buying another e-cigarette: “Seeing your child on fire and hearing them scream ‘Help me!’ is pretty terrifying.”
The boy received first- and second-degree burns.
Photo: KSTU