An Anaheim teen was hospitalized Tuesday after an electronic cigarette exploded.
His hand was badly burned in the explosion, which his girlfriend described as sounding like a gun going off. He was back at home recovering Tuesday night.
The teen is the second person reportedly injured by one of the devices in Southern California in as many days.
"At the time that this explosion occurred he was holding some type of e-cigarette device what precipitated this device to fail or this type of explosion we don't know, Ahaheim Police Department's Lt. Bob Dunn said, "it was called in as a possible explosion so certainly people heard it."
A San Diego man was rushed to the burn unit after his e-cig exploded inside a liquor store in Ramona, also shattering glass.
CalFire officials told NBC San Diego that they did not know what caused that explosion, but that it was not the first time a user had been injured by one of the devices.
Lt. Dunn said detectives and arson investigators will be looking into the two separate cases to see if there could be something triggering the devices to malfunction.
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"We will look to see in the upcoming days if there are more situations or incidents like this or if perhaps manufactures reach out and indicate that there have been a series of these kinds of failures," Lt. Dunn said.
E-cigarettes heat liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor.
Two weeks ago, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning urging airlines to bar users from carrying the devices in checked luggage because they are believed to be behind incidents were fires were sparked in the baggage hold of aircraft.
The FAA pointed to after-market parts as part of the concern.
Michael Larkin and NBC San Diego’s Liberty Zabala and R. Stickney contributed to this story.
