DAVIE, Fla. – A Hollywood woman said she is lucky to be alive after an electronic cigarette exploded and caught her bed on fire.
Tina Kruzyck is a former smoker who made the switch to e-cigarettes as a safer alternative. Kruzyck said she bought an Eleaf iStick 50-watt model e-cigarette at the Vapor Shark store in Davie.
"Been using it about a year now," she told Local 10 News. "Every night (I) plug it in on my bed. No problems."
That is no problems until the morning of Nov. 20, whe Kruzyck said she and her fiancé awoke to find that the e-cigarette had burst into flames.
"I had my cellphone sitting somewhere on the bed, and I had the e-cigarette plugged in," Kruzyck said.
Kruzyck said her fiancé saved her life.
"My fiancé saved my life and grabbed me, threw me up against the wall and it just started exploding," she said, reenacting the ordeal. "He took this pillow right here and put it out."
They called Hollywood firefighters to make sure they weren't in any other danger. Their smoky bedroom, burned mattress, melted e-cigarette and busted cable is a reminder of what occurred.
The e-cigarette uses a rechargeable lithium ion battery. The Eleaf iStick is made by a company called iSmoka and sold at Vapor Shark stores.
Vapor Shark said it was not aware of any problems with that product before.
Kruzyck said she just wants customers to know the risks.
"Don't charge them unattended, and just know that this could happen," she said.
Vapor Shark has now pulled that model of e-cigarettes from its stores and provided Kruzyck with a new e-cigarette from its line.
iSmoka did not reply to a request for comment.
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