Ariel Tolfee is a 13-year-old from Texas. Like almost everyone and their abuela, when she goes to bed her cell phone is not far from her. Recently, she put her cell phoneunder her pillow and proceeded to fall asleep. At some point during the night she woke up because she could smell that something was burning. She says, "I didn't think much of it, so I went back to sleep and then I woke up again and it was more prominent." When she woke the second time, she realized her cell phone had actually started a small fire.
You've got to see what the phone, her pillow and her bed ended up looking like.
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Her dad thinks the phone overheated under the pillow and made the battery swell and start a fire. Crazy, but totally makes sense if you think about it.There is actually a warning in the phone's manual (the phone was a Samsung Galaxy S4) that reads:
Covering the device with bedding, your body, thick clothing or any other materials that significantly affect air flow may affect the performance of the phone and poses a possible risk of fire or explosion, which could lead to serious bodily injuries or damage to property.
That's all good and well, but unfortunately most people don't read their manuals cover to cover.
Supposedly, the battery that was in Tolfee's phone at the time of the incident was a replacement battery and not the original manufactured by Samsung, which may have contributed to why the phone basically went up in smoke. The thing is that it isn't a safe practice to stash a cell phone under your pillow regardless of who made the battery, hence the warning in the manual.
I don't know about you, but I have put my phone under my pillow before. Not for an entire night, but still I've done it once or twice without thinking that I was putting myself in any kind of danger and I'm a grown up.
We need to be aware of this danger and we also need to warn our kids about it because Tolfee is super lucky that only her phone, pillow, and bed were damaged. It could have ended up horribly. I'm glad she and her family are sharing their story because it helps to raise awareness of this safety issue.
Image via Thinkstock
