Narrative:

I received a call from the purser that they had an e-cig (e-cigarette) overheat/explode in seat pocket. He said a non-rev captain who was seated in area removed the passengers from row and sprayed the seat pocket with a halon fire extinguisher. The purser said the e-cig was put in a thermal containment bag. The situation was contained but there was some residual smoke in the cabin. We did memory items for smoke; fire and fumes checklist and gave pilot flying duties to first officer. I went to qrc that directed us to QRH. We ran the smoke; fire and fumes checklist and then the smoke and fumes removal checklist. I called back to purser and was told that the smoke had cleared. I then talked to our non-rev captain. He said he heard a loud pop and saw a flash. He immediately cleared the passengers and sprayed the seat pocket area with a halon that a flight attendant handed him. He said the whole event lasted less then 3 minutes. I asked him in his opinion did we need to divert or continue. He said the situation was contained and he felt it was safe to continue. I also asked the purser the same question. The purser said it was safe to continue. They had moved the passengers to empty seats. I contacted dispatch and explained what had happened. I told the dispatcher I was continuing to ZZZ unless he or the company wanted us to divert. He checked and said to continue to ZZZ. We continued to ZZZ without any further issues.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B-737 flight crew reported a small fire due to an overheated e-cigarette in cabin which was quickly extinguished by a deadheading Captain. Flight subsequently completed an uneventful trip to destination.

Narrative: I received a call from the Purser that they had an e-cig (e-cigarette) overheat/explode in seat pocket. He said a non-rev Captain who was seated in area removed the passengers from row and sprayed the seat pocket with a halon fire extinguisher. The Purser said the e-cig was put in a thermal containment bag. The situation was contained but there was some residual smoke in the cabin. We did memory items for Smoke; Fire and Fumes checklist and gave Pilot Flying duties to First Officer. I went to QRC that directed us to QRH. We ran the Smoke; Fire and Fumes checklist and then the Smoke and Fumes removal checklist. I called back to Purser and was told that the smoke had cleared. I then talked to our non-rev Captain. He said he heard a loud pop and saw a flash. He immediately cleared the passengers and sprayed the seat pocket area with a Halon that a flight attendant handed him. He said the whole event lasted less then 3 minutes. I asked him in his opinion did we need to divert or continue. He said the situation was contained and he felt it was safe to continue. I also asked the Purser the same question. The purser said it was safe to continue. They had moved the passengers to empty seats. I contacted Dispatch and explained what had happened. I told the Dispatcher I was continuing to ZZZ unless he or the company wanted us to divert. He checked and said to continue to ZZZ. We continued to ZZZ without any further issues.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.