iPhone 5c Catches Fire: 14-Year-Old Girl Pants on Fire as Apple iPhone 'Pops'; Not First Apple Device to 'Burst in Flames' [Video]
Apple iPhone owners, beware as another smartphone causes someone's pants to catch on fire.
The iPhone 5c, which launched on Sept. 20, 2013 alongside the pricier iPhone 5s, was the smartphone for a 14-year-old student from Kennebunk Middle School in Maine.
It might have been an ordinary Friday for the 14-year-old until she sat down. A "pop" noise began to flare up. Next, smoke began to billow from the back of her pants. The student's pants began to go on fire. Three of her fellow classmates, however, were quick to rush to the girl's aid. One of the classmates notified the teacher who set off an extinguisher to put out the fire as well as a blanket.
According to Kennebunk Middle School Principal Jeff Rodman, as the girl was getting help off her pants, the Apple iPhone fell out.
"The phone fell out of her pocket ... and it was still smoldering. Her pants were still on fire," he said, via The Portland Press Herald.
The school was on lockdown for emergency workers could assist the 14-year-old. The girl, whose name was not disclosed, was sent to Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford where she was treated for first- and second-degree burns.
The eighth-grader's mother, Judy Milligan, stated, "I was a little bit in shock" when notified by the school about the fire. Milligan gave her daughter the iPhone 5c as a gift two months prior.
She was released from the hospital after 45 minutes and even asked to return to class. School officials and health care workers, however, encouraged her to go home.
"People should obviously use caution when placing their phones in their back pockets so as not to crush them and cause an electrical short," said an official from the Kennebunk fire department.
It is not the first time an Apple device flamed out.
An iPad exploded at an Australian Vodafone retail store last November, resulting in customers evacuating. The iPad in question was the iPad Air, which also launched in late 2013. A spokesperson for Vodafone stated the tablet had "burst of flames" as the iPad was in its charging port on the demonstration panel.
The iPad Air's explosion filled the Vodafone store with smoke while sparks could be seen from the charging port. No customers or staff member were hurt by the incident.
While Apple reportedly collected the exploded the iPad Air for testing, Apple has not commented on the 14-year-old girl's iPhone 5c fire.
According to Andrew Rosenstein, owner of an Apple repair shop named TechPort in Portland, customers have had battery issues with general devices in the past but usually not from a new phone.
"There's basically a lithium-ion type rechargeable battery built in (to an iPhone). The battery, as it charges and discharges, it's really a chemical reaction that can generate heat," said Rosenstein to The Portland Press Herald. "It's very rare there can be an issue, but any battery is just a chemical composition that can be flammable in extreme circumstances."
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