Cellphone charger blamed for blaze in Delaware
Details on this one are remarkably skimpy, but here are the facts as we know them. A fire caused around $30,000 worth of damage to a mobile home in Delaware this past week, but thankfully, the Millsboro and Indian River firefighters found no one home at the time of the incident. The culprit? A "malfunctioning cellphone charger that ignited the wall covering in a bedroom." That's it, folks -- no manufacturer, no brand name, nothing. In other words, unplug your chargers when you leave the house... or store your home in a fireproof safe, either one.
[Thanks, Carl]
[Thanks, Carl]



















Damn $30K must have destroyed the two trailers next door also.
Its probably one of those generic $5.oo chargers they sell in the street....with : "no manufacturer, no brand name, nothing."
You'll pay dearly for using letters instead of numbers; that sort of trickery never goes unpunished.
"store your home in a fireproof safe, either one."
If your home is in a fire proof safe and the charger is in the home, your home still burns down.
Proofread for stupidity.
No because if your home was in a fireproof safe and a fire started inside all the oxygen would burn up and the fire would go out. Of course you would die too but thats not the point.
@dey:
But would the fire use up all the oxygen fast enough to avoid burning a substantial portion of the house?
Should we unplug all of ourelectrical components and keep the dynamite stored safely as well?
Scary thing about this is that I have had encountered 2 chargers catch fire in the last 2 months working at a Rogers store. Wonder if it's the same brand. Apparently a representative from the company told me it was the first time they ever heard of it happening and to send them in for an investigation.
Was it from an iPhone 3G charger? ;)
4th woot.
i think we should get some of that intel stuff and charge our cell phone wirelessly
have fun with your 75% efficiency
With a device as small as a phone, most people wouldn't notice the loss.
CFL's only have a 10% efficiency, 90% of the energy you put into them gets turned to heat. You ever look at a CFL and think 'man, i can't wait to get rid of this inefficient piece of crap'? Me neither. 90% waste can be acceptable, surely 25% can be too.
@ethana2
my friend you are mistaken. incandescent light bulbs are ~10% efficient whereas fluorescent tubes reach ~22% efficiency.
I have never seen such beautiful Photoshop work
I've seen this before. It's the cellphone charger mod for Doom.
you mean ms paint?
No its actually from breath of fire for GBA..
Dammit.
Why do they not disclose a manufacturer so we can all panic and unplug our chargers?
No big loss, you should unplug it anyway, as it uses power even when your phone isn't attached to it.
If someone were to develop a device that would send a frequency to cause surrounding cell phones to either explode or start fire, I would invest in that stock immediately. Again, people who are addicted to their cell phones are people who have no self-purpose, or do not like being alone with themselves.
I'd prefer a frequency that causes you to explode or start fire.
that graphic could not have been any better.
If by better you mean worse, then yea I completely agree.
That picture is extremely loud and by loud I mean tasty.. It looks like it was drawn by someone driving a locomotive full of screaming babies crashing into an aircraft carrier, and the aircraft carrier is on fire-- which is very exciting because fire is very exciting..
*sigh* no really that's horrible..
you dont develop frequencies. thats like inventing honey.
^
I'm betting that charger didn't have "Made in America" stamped on it. I'm also betting it has some proprietary plug. Any takers to bet against me?
over 9000 hours in MsPaint
but not HD?
BURN!!!
Oh well. It was a terrible pun, anyways.
You know, Burn as in "You just got BURNED!!!" and Burn as in "I saw those trailers BURN!!!".
Crap. I probably just chalked up another low rank.
We don't need no water let the motherfu**ers burn! Burn motherfu**er, BURN!
ew
What no one likes that song? C'mon.
I've seen a few fires caused by chargers and other power supplies. They get hot, even without a phone or laptop plugged into the other end. 1.) Your wasting power, albeit not a lot - but over a year or so that can add up. 2.) look at all the problems with batteries and counterfits.
The people probably bought a 3rd party chinese knockoff that wasn't UL listed. Couple that with human stupidity (We get at least 50 fires a year from "carelessly discarded cigarettes").
When I leave for vacation, I turn everything off and I even unplug my UPS's. I even unplug lamps. I even turn off stuff at the breaker, with the exception of the fridge in the kitchen. My fridge in my basement, I turn off because I empty it out and use the time to defrost it.
the one response on the link page has all of you beat. Seems there is no love for our "original peoples" in the US.
i feel bad for the people who lost their stuff to the idiot who didn't unplug his charger. i unplug my laptop charger everytime i leave the room. it's not that hard people.
it may not be that hard. but why should you have to? do you unplug your reciever? what about your cable box or your Tv?
I call false. No mobile home can sustain $30,000 worth of damage. No mobile home is worth that much!
Doublewide?
look at real estate here in the florida keys. there are mobile homes in the $500,000 range.
well of course it caught on fire, if the house can fit in a safe that must mean the charger was only a couple of milimeters big, so it praobly shorted.
Nanofire?
FIRST~~!~~!!~~!~ YEAHHH~~
fail
LAST!!!! for now.....
not so fast...................
My charger did the same it destroyed my life and iphone, thank god for that now I live like a hobo