Teen Burned When Cell Phone Catches Fire

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July 5, 2004
A California teen suffered second-degree burns when her Kyocera Wireless 2325 cell phone caught fire, according to local fire investigators.

The 16-year-old Ontario girl's phone burst into "fist-size flames" without warning, said Frank Huddleston, an investigator at the Ontario fire department. Huddleston said he suspects the phone's battery overheated.

Witnesses said the victim had the phone in her back pocket, when it "let out a whoosh," bulged, then shot out flames and smoke. She was treated for second-degree burns and released.

Huddleston said there were no sources of flame nearby. He said witnesses saw flames coming from the bottom of the phone, near vents that are intended to prevent overheating batteries from exploding.

Kyocera issued a recall of about 140,000 batteries used in Kyocera Model 7135 Smartphones in January. The recall announcement said the batteries can short-circuit and erupt with force or emit excessive heat, posing a burn hazard to consumers.

In January, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued its first-ever recall of cell phone batteries, some 40,000 from Coslight International Group in Hong Kong. The batteries were on four phones, all Kyocera Wireless models that overheated. One person was slightly injured from the defect. The batteries were also available from Verizon Wireless and Alltel.

There have been other incidents involving portable phones overheating and exploding, raising concerns about the safety of jamming the devices into pockets, purses and briefcases and holding them against the face.

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