An overheated vape battery caused a small fire in an overhead luggage bin, delaying a flight from New York’s LaGuardia to Houston.
The incident occurred on Wednesday during the boarding of a SkyWest flight that was operating as a Delta connection.
A terrifying video shows flight attendants using a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. In the video, a piece of luggage is seen engulfed in fire as passengers and attendants attempt to prevent the flames from spreading and causing further damage.
A statement from the airline says that passengers “deplaned routinely”. They were transferred to a different aircraft that took them to Houston.
There’s no word yet on what caused the fire to start initially. But from the looks of the video, it seems like someone may have placed a loose 18650 battery in their luggage. When traveling with lithium-ion batteries (like the ones used in box mods), it’s important to place them in carrying cases. If a loose 18650 battery comes in direct contact with a metal object (such as coins or keys), then it can explode and cause serious injury and property damage. Battery cases are extremely cheap and available on Amazon. There’s no reason to take the risk of injuring yourself and others. Plus it would be extremely embarrassing to end up in a viral video on the Vapor Vanity homepage. Trust us, buy yourself a battery case and you most likely won’t have anything to worry about.
