Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Electronic Device
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
We had landed and the crew was leaving the terminal. I saw one of our pax just outside the terminal door with all the contents of her purse spread all over the sidewalk. As I walked past her I heard her tell someone that her purse was smoldering and smoking. I walked back to her and re-introduced myself as one of her flight attendants on the flight. I asked her what was going on. She said and showed me that her electronic cigarette had melted several items in her purse. As she was leaving the plane and walking through the terminal; she realized that something was wrong and she hurried outside to dump her purse. She discovered that the safety was off on her Electronic cigarette. We did not do anything wrong in this situation; but I felt the need to report this in order to point out the danger of fire. If the timing was even a little different it could have resulted in a fire on board the aircraft.
After departing the terminal; a Flight Attendant saw a passenger from the previous flight dump her purse contents on the sidewalk. When asked why; the passenger responded her electronic cigarette's safety was off and it melted some purse contents as she exited the aircraft earlier.