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E-cigarette blows up at Quincy business

QUINCY — A woman's e-cigarette blew up at her workplace in Quincy, causing a small fire.

"All of a sudden there was the flame jumping from the table to the floor and then the next thing you know. It just blew up. It was just fire," said Jill Anderson with Regina Russell's Tea Room.

Video shows an e-cigarette exploding into the staff room at Regina Russell's Tea Room and Fortune Friday after a new employee brought in an e-cigarette to work.

"She asked if she could charge it. We charge out phones and things on the wall and I said, go ahead," said Anderson.

The next thing Anderson knew, there was an explosion.

"I grabbed the order, came back and I was passing out the readings and then you hear boom! And I was like, oh my god, what is that?" she said.

Anderson jumped into action, grabbed a hose from a nearby sink and put out the flames. There was damage to the business.

According to the latest report from the U.S. Fire Administration, 2.5 million Americans use e-cigarettes and 80 percent of reported explosions happened while the device is charging.

"If she had that thing in her mouth I'm not lying, 2 minutes, 2 minutes she decided not to charge that and continue smoking it, it would blown her whole face off," said Anderson.

The staff at Regina's said they were lucky this time and are warning others who use e-cigarettes.