Phoenix man burned after electronic cigarette explodes in pocket

PHOENIX - A Phoenix man said an exploding electronic cigarette is to blame for painful burns on his leg.

Nathaniel Rossi said the e-cigarette caught fire and exploded in his pants pocket on Wednesday. The incident left him with second-degree burns, he said.

"I felt like i just walked out of a war scene," Rossi said of his charred leg.

A co-worker, who also works as a firefighter, cut off the bottom half of Rossi's right pant leg to begin to treat the wound, Rossi said.

The Food and Drug Administration has an April meeting scheduled to discuss e-cigarette safety, particularly the safety of the batteries inside the devices. The batteries are used to heat the liquid inside the e-cigarettes in a vapor.

The federal government has noted dozens of reports of the devices catching fire or exploding.

Nathan believes the lithium batteries in his e-cigarette malfunctioned and sparked the explosion.

He said he is left with "pain, just burning, stinging pain."