A rechargeable battery caught fire, searing one teenager’s phone while she slept. It even burned a hole through her pillow.
A 13-year-old Texas girl woke up to find her cell phone smoldering, just inches from her head. She said her Samsung Galaxy S-4 slipped under her pillow while she slept. The smell of something burning woke her.
“I didn’t think much of it, so I went back to sleep, and then I woke up again and it was more prominent,” Ariel Tolfree said.
Her father suspects the phone overheated, causing the battery to catch fire.
“The whole phone melted — the plastic glass, you can’t even tell it was a phone,” Thomas Tolfree, father, said. “This is the battery. You can see how thick that battery is now because it swelled.”
A spokesperson for Samsung said their products are safe, but they do agree there is a need for consumer education when it comes to rechargeable batteries. It’s exactly why they post a warning in their user guide. It states that covering the device, especially with bedding, could restrict airflow and cause a fire.
