Tangled phone charger blamed for fire

Senior fire safety officer Dave Jenkins inspects a cellphone charger believed to be the cause of the house fire. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Fire services are warning mobile phone users to be careful after a Hamilton man and his three children were forced to flee their home when his phone charger burst into flames.

The 28-year-old man was yesterday sifting through his smoke-damaged possessions after fire tore through his bedroom and ensuite at his Nawton home yesterday morning.

He said his Sharp GX20 phone had been plugged in for only half an hour, next to his bed, when one of his sons came running down the hallway screaming "the room's on fire".

"I saw the room was well-ablaze, there were flames up the wall, the bed was on fire and there was a lot of black smoke pouring out of the room ," said the man, who did not want to be named.

The man, who suffered smoke inhalation and was covered in soot, tried to close the door to stop the fire from spreading but couldn't.

"I tried to fight it with the garden hose and a guy who used to be a firefighter came over to help but by then it was too far gone," he said.

"The ensuite is had it and as you can see the bedroom is completely destroyed."

Hamilton senior station fire officer Dave Jenkins said the fire was caused by a phone charger that was tangled in knots.

"It would basically have over-heated and the wiring would have caught fire," said Mr Jenkins.

"It's not overly common but it certainly does happen."

Mr Jenkins said tangled and looped wiring generated a lot of heat and worked like a coil.

He advised people with new mobile phones, whose phone charger power cords are usually bundled up, to unwind them before use.

A Consumer's Institute spokeswoman confirmed there had been further reports of cellphone chargers catching fire.

But most of these were older chargers which tended to generate more heat.

Vodafone spokesman Paul Brislen said he knew of one instance where a person charged their phone under a pillow. "It's probably better to charge it on a safe place like a table," he said.