A 16-year-old boy from Saguenay got quite a fright when his cellphone caught fire inches from his head while he was sleeping.
His mother, Josée Boies, wants to raise awareness.
“He falls asleep on it like he does every night,” Boies said. He did. He put the phone on the charge and put it next to him.”
More precisely, on the mattress of his bed, without realizing that the device would catch fire.
“When he woke up, sparks were coming out of the phone,” his mother said. He allowed it to be held with his fingertips. When he put it in the kitchen sink, the sparks started again, so he threw it out.”
He didn’t burn himself, but the smoke alarm went off.
The mattress and a piece of furniture were also damaged.
“There was big black smoke, very thick. His father told me that it was very opaque and that the smell was very strong,” said Josée Boies.
Like many people, the mother had a bad habit of falling asleep with her phone before the incident.
“We all tell ourselves that we don’t want to run out of battery tomorrow,” she said. The phone is part of our life. He is connected to us. We think it won’t happen to us, it will only happen to others, but no.”
She alerted Samsung, the manufacturer of the device, who asked her to send it in for analysis.
“They told me it would go into the hands of the highest leadership and it wasn’t taken lightly,” she said. If no one says so, there will be no promotion or redemption, and worse things will happen.”
For Mobile Expert professionals, this is an exceptional case.
“We never see that here in the shop,” assured Chief Engineer Robin Tremblay. The worst thing you can see is the batteries swelling but suddenly catching fire is very rare.
Mr. Tremblay has not examined the device but thinks he knows why the battery is overheating.
“The device probably couldn’t breathe,” he explained. He was in a closed place where he couldn’t vent his heat. We avoid that as much as possible because the device has to breathe. It’s fine to leave it near you overnight, but at least leave it flat on a piece of furniture so it doesn’t slide between two mattresses, for example, or on the floor.
He also recommends using manufacturer-certified cables to charge your phone and unplugging it once the process is complete.