Tuesday morning, a popping noise came from a backpack inside of an elementary school. Little did everyone know, that noise was the sound of a portable charger catching fire.
Deputy Fire Chief Matt Hepditch says that no one was hurt and the school was evacuated during the time of the incident.
With portable phone chargers being so common these days, it’s important to know which ones to buy and how to take care of them to prevent this.
the problem with these devices is that they’re super fragile and they’re being mass produced nowadays.
Chief Hepditch says “You need to be very careful on how they’re used. Keep the device out of cold or wet environments. Don’t throw your gym bag or backpack around while the device is in there”
With a lot of big companies these days like Temu mass producing these kinds of products, they’re made to be cost efficient and cheap. So a lot of these portable chargers aren’t made with the proper technology to prevent fires and short circuits.
Chief Hepditch says “The best thing to do is buy a product made by your cell phone company and make sure its compatible with your device. You want to make sure it has a ULC or CSA listing to it. Those are laboratories that test the products to make sure they do what they’re advertised.”
From Chargedforlife.ca, it says that overcharging can potentially overheat your device. Make sure to only used certified devices for charging. as well as disposing of your electrical devices properly and also making sure to never tamper with anything with lithium ion batteries inside as they’re easily flammable.
