Girl's iPhone Catches Fire in Her Pocket, Leaves Her With Second-Degree Burns
A girl's iPhone caught fire Friday morning while the 13-year-old was in the middle of class, leaving her with first and second-degree burns. The Maine middle school girl was taken to the hospital to treat her injuries.
The girl whose iPhone 5C caught on fire attends Kennebunk Middle School, where the incident occurred around 7:40 a.m. during the first class of the day. The eighth grader sat down, but noticed a burning sensation and smelled smoke, and when she checked, her pants had burst into flame.
The middle schooler tried to "stop, drop and roll" on the ground to put the fire out, but was unsuccessful. While three of her classmates asked the boys to leave the room, they helped her remove her pants to avoid further injury. The iPhone 5C fell out of her pocket, while another teacher rushed to her aid with a blanket and a fire extinguisher.
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"It was something that I don't think people had ever seen before," Jeff Rodman, the school principal, told Seacoast Online. "I've never seen anything like that."
The iPhone 5C on fire caused the school to initiate a 20-minute hold-in-place for all students. Emergency crews arrived, and the 13-year-old was taken to Southern Maine Medical Center, where she was treated for first- and second-degree burns.
Andrew Palmeri, the division chief for the local emergency services, speculated that the phone's battery could have "shorted out" when the girl sat down- the smartphone was in her back pocket and could have been crushed.
"People should obviously use caution when placing their phones in the back pockets so as not to crush them and cause an electrical short," the official explained.
Apple has not commented on the iPhone 5C igniting.
