We’ve all felt our mobile devices get a little warm now and again, but we’d never expect them to start on fire!
After a 2016 incident involving a Samsung device smoking up a Delta flight after its battery overheated, you would think the company’s problems had been solved, but it’s happened again at a home in England.
Callum Hewkin had been watching a show on his tablet before falling asleep, according to the Daily Mail. His device was plugged into a charger and lay on his bed throughout the night after he dozed off.
While Hewkin might have been in some trouble for having the device in his room – which is strictly against his family’s rules about devices in bedrooms at night – his parents are just glad he’s ok after the device overheated and burned through his bed, just inches from where his head lay resting!
The 4-year-old device burned all the way through the bedspring!
When the boy awoke the next morning, his room was covered in soot and his family immediately called the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service according to the BBC.
The boy’s father, Stewart Hewkin, told News Corp Australia:
“We had no idea he even had his tablet in his room. He had snuck it into bed with him because he wanted to watch something in bed. When I came downstairs in the morning about 7am, I thought I could smell burning plastic and rubber but dismissed it as we live near factories. But the next minute I could hear my wife screaming to come upstairs.”
That’s when the parents found his room “full of white smoke” with “a big burn mark right by where his head had been.”
Samsung is investigating the matter with the family. They told People Magazine that until they obtain and examine the device, they cannot make a comment as to precisely what happened.
But according to the family, the tablet’s charger and cable were in perfect condition and the burn marks on the device were located in the battery area. The home’s electrical system didn’t trip either, suggesting that the issue may be with the battery.
Samsung has issued recalls in the past for its Galaxy Note 7, but in 2017 a Detroit woman had both a Samsung Galaxy S4 and a Galaxy S8 in her car’s cupholder when one of them caught fire and destroyed her vehicle.
While many of us leave our devices charging on furniture, the Staffordshire firefighters have warned that it’s a dangerous habit:
“[This] serves as a stark reminder not to leave items charging on materials that could catch fire when hot,” Firefighter Brad Robins told the BBC.
While the boy’s device was purchased new and plugged into a Samsung charger, Robins warned mobile device users that they should only charge devices on safe (non-flammable) surfaces, use the correct chargers from the company that made their device, register their products so they receive timely information about recalls, and ensure all house smoke alarms work correctly.
Robins said the family’s building did not have working smoke alarms, but before the firefighters left they installed two new ones.
The tablet’s model has not yet been released, but it’s an important reminder that sleeping next to any electrical device can be dangerous.
Everyone involved agreed that the situation could have been much worse.
You can scroll down below to see an interview with the family and photos from the incident.
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