Nfpa & The E-Cig

[Jeffb]

I'm sitting here at work reading the latest edition of the NFPA Journal. The NFPA is the National Fire Protection Association. Well, I'm thumbing through it and what do I see but an article entitled "Cigarette threat 2.0". It seems there was a fire that erupted in a cargo compartment of a plane that just landed at Min. St. Paul. The cause of the fire was a shipment of 1,000 e-cigs. The article states " Though only minimal damage was reported, the incident has called into question the safety of these increasingly popular devices". The issue with the fire protection community is not the stty and such but the batteries. In fact last summer the Air Line Pilots Asscoiation called for a ban on bulk shipments of batteries due to their apparent malfunctions.

So I'm thinking this is just great! As if we didn't have enough problems with the FDA, now we have potential rivals with the NFPA and the ALPA.

[GDub]

That sucks, but as you pointed out the real problem is the batteries. Hopefully more people can recognize that.

[NeRo9k]

That's not good. Let's hope future problems like this don't arise at the very least. The Chinese should take a look at the way the batteries are manufactured and try to put a stop to issue at hand.

[Brian]

Yea, well, didn't Apple fry some peoples nuts with bad batteries?

I know, this doesn't help the cause, but it's new technology and was bound to happen.

[Jeffb]

Here's the article. (Thanks Bird Dog)

Cigarette threat 2.0

Last August, a fire erupted inside the cargo compartment of a plane that had just landed at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The most likely culprit was a shipment of 1,000 electronic cigarettes, battery-operated devices that function similarly to their paper-and-tobacco counterparts. Though only minimal damage was reported, the incident has called into question the safety of these increasingly popular devices.

Since entering the U.S. market in 2007, "e-cigarettes" have become a $1 million-plus industry numbering approximately two million consumers, according to the Electronic Cigarette Association (ECA). A few hundred companies worldwide—12 are ECA members—produce the devices, which are powered by a lithium-ion battery and include a cartridge filled with a solution that may contain nicotine. Smokers suck the mouthpiece to inhale a vapor produced by the atomizer, or heating chamber, designed to warm the solution. The devices come in both disposable and reusable forms; a "starter kit," where the smoker only replaces the cartridge when needed, can cost up to $100.

The jury is still out on whether the e-cigarettes are any safer than real cigarettes, says Robert Duval, NFPA’s New England regional manager and senior fire investigator, who gave a presentation on e-cigarettes at NFPA’s International Conference on Fire-Safe Cigarettes late last year. "It would be nice to say that e-cigarettes are a safer alternative, but we can attribute at least one fire to these things," Duval says. "From the fire-safety perspective, you still have a heat-producing device. What if you have one in your pocket and it’s supposed to shut off but doesn’t?"

Advocates of fire-safe cigarettes hope the fire-safe technology can reduce the number of fires resulting from smoking materials, and backers of e-cigarettes are making a similar pitch. "There is no open flame or the need to extinguish the e-cigarette at the end of each use," says ECA President Matt Salmon. "There are, however… deaths or injury each year because of fires started by unattended [traditional cigarette] butts, and that doesn’t include the many wildfires that have been caused by a discarded butt."

According to NFPA statistics, there were 142,900 reported smoking fires in 2006, resulting in 780 deaths, 1,600 injuries, and $606 million in property damage.

Duval says a cause for concern is the e-cigarettes’ power source: the lithium-ion batteries that are also found in various rechargeable devices. He notes at least five other incidents where the batteries caused fires similar to the one at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Last summer, the Air Line Pilots Association called for a ban on bulk shipments of the batteries due to their apparent malfunctions.

"E-cigarettes are something fire marshals and the fire investigation community should know about," Duval says. "They may run into these things in the future and shouldn’t overlook them, since they’re battery-powered, heat-producing devices."

[BirdDog]

You are very welcome.