I can't help you Steve, but I did see a battery explode one time it was 1968 and I was working at a Signal Gas Station in West Seattle, and my shift partner went to check on a battery that he was charging, and he was smoking a cigarette and bent over toward the battery to see how it was charging and his cigarette ignited the battery fumes. No one was hurt in the loud explosion, he was wearing safety glasses, but the overalls he was wearing were ruined from battery acid. We had to use baking soda to clean up the area. Sorry to hear about what happened to you!