Temu charger sparks house fire in Greenhithe on Auckland’s North Shore; warning to others issued

A cheap phone charger bought through online retailer Temu has proven costly after it sparked a fire on Auckland’s North Shore that significantly damaged a family home.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said the cable being used to recharge a phone and had been placed on soft material in a Greenhithe house when it overheated and caught fire on Saturday, November 23.

Five fire trucks attended the blaze at the three-storey house around 9.30pm and evacuated all occupants safely, the spokesperson said.

Layne Sparks said his partner was using a “green, flashing cord” bought from the Chinese owned online retailer Temu to charge her phone and left it between their bed and a pillow to protect it from their pet rabbit.

“It seems like the cord, being so hot, just caught the bed on fire, and it all went off.”

A Temu charger sparked a house fire in Greenhithe on Auckland's North Shore.

Sparks said his partner had taken a sleeping pill which hadn’t worked, leading her to go outside for a cigarette.

“They say smoking kills. It might have saved [that] night.”

While outside, his partner heard the smoke alarm go off and rushed back inside to check on their 1-year-old baby.

“She apparently saw smoke straight away, went straight [in] and grabbed our baby and went outside.”

Sparks says he was gaming in the downstairs garage when his partner alerted him to the fire, and he ran to the top floor thinking she had gone further into the house.

“[I opened] that door and just saw pitch black, like just black-as smoke, you know, you can’t see anything ahead of you ... within a second I was just covered in it.”

The family and their pet rabbit escaped and fire crews from Albany and Greenhithe arrived to put out the blaze.

Sparks said two walls would have to be replaced and the bedroom was completely burned out, while the bathroom was left “black with smoke”.

The top floor will “need to be redone” and the second floor sustained significant water damage, as well as “muddy, ashy stuff” rubbed into the floor, he said.

Sparks said their landlord had house insurance but they did not have contents insurance, meaning they would have to replace everything in their bedroom.

The family have moved out while the clean-up and repair process is being undertaken and have started a Givealittle to help cover costs.

“I think the main thing to take away from this is: Don’t use cheap charging cables,” Sparks said.

“If they’re not really that safe or from an approved manufacturer, then you’re just risking something like this happening.”

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said they recommend device chargers only be operated on hard surfaces to reduce fire risk.

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