Amber Neely
A 17-year-old received burns to her cheek after her iPhone charger caught her blanket on fire.
On March 18, Amie Hall, who resides in Birmingham, England, plugged in her iPhone to charge before heading to bed. Just before falling asleep, she noticed "flashing orange" flames on her blanket.
The flames had caught her blanket on fire and left her with a minor burn to her cheek. Hall was able to run downstairs and seek the help of her mother, who could extinguish the fire without the aid of firefighters.
"There was no need for the fire service to attend as my mom had managed to put the fire out herself," Hall told Birmingham Mail. "I would just like to spread the word to please make sure people take note - it could have been a lot worse."
Hall posted pictures of her burns to Facebook to warn others not to leave their phone to charge overnight.
It's not currently known what caused the fire. Birmingham Mail says that the charger consisted of an Apple charging cable and another brand's charging plug, but Hall states otherwise.
"This isn't even a cheap charger, it's an Apple charger," she wrote on Facebook. "Please don't go to bed and leave your phone charging overnight."
Apple is currently investigating the cause of the fire. The company suggests that all iPhone users review safe charging standards. Users are told not to charge the iPhone in areas where moisture could be present or in poorly ventilated spaces, which could cause the charger to overheat or throw sparks.
Apple also suggests that users regularly inspect their charging equipment to ensure that it is not damaged and point out that users can take questionable equipment to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider for evaluation.
In 2019, an Australian scientist suffered second-degree burns when his year-old iPhone X exploded in his pocket while at work. He is currently seeking compensation for his injuries.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
22 Comments
Not the full story. They will very likely find that the cable was damaged prior to the fire - a pet chewed through the insulation, partially broken etc.
More clickbait. With literally billions of Apple chargers and cables out there something like this is bound to happen from time to time. Can’t wait for the usual suspects to come in here and pontificate about Apple’s ‘cheaply made yet overpriced’ cables and chargers.
The mother claims it was an Apple charger and an Apple cable. They may well be but what if it turns out both were counterfeits? There are millions upon millions of counterfeit Apple gear too. But as we will likely never hear about this again.
Finally, when something like this happens in the U.S. it's like winning the lottery. Personal injury lawyers would be pounding on her door with business cards in hand.
Not in relation to this event as I don’t know the details here.
But there are a lot of counterfeit Apple-branded chargers being casually sold in otherwise reputable looking stores. During my last trip to London I was in search of a charger and it opened my eyes to how prevalent they are - so many mobilephone stores had fake “apple” chargers (each between £5-10.)
I only found a real one in a branch of one of the leading mobile providers.
The law of unintended consequences - not putting a charger in every product is likely to increase the number of cheap and maybe poor quality products. Although other companies substandard products are not really Apples problem.