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]

[jp23 @ Sep 2nd 2008 10:42PM]

Damn $30K must have destroyed the two trailers next door also.

[thedesolate1 @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:09AM]

Its probably one of those generic $5.oo chargers they sell in the street....with : "no manufacturer, no brand name, nothing."

[Yay. @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:38AM]

You'll pay dearly for using letters instead of numbers; that sort of trickery never goes unpunished.

[Rage @ Sep 2nd 2008 10:44PM]

"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.

[deyanimay @ Sep 2nd 2008 10:55PM]

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.

[Shadyman @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:16AM]

@dey:

But would the fire use up all the oxygen fast enough to avoid burning a substantial portion of the house?

[DXFanman @ Sep 2nd 2008 10:47PM]

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.

[Michael Forian @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:26PM]

Was it from an iPhone 3G charger? ;)

[gbeastiekid @ Sep 2nd 2008 10:57PM]

4th woot.
i think we should get some of that intel stuff and charge our cell phone wirelessly

[andres @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:29PM]

have fun with your 75% efficiency

[ethana2 @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:05AM]

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.

[andres @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:23AM]

@ethana2

my friend you are mistaken. incandescent light bulbs are ~10% efficient whereas fluorescent tubes reach ~22% efficiency.

[Tina Darby @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:13PM]

I have never seen such beautiful Photoshop work

[jupiterthunder @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:59PM]

I've seen this before. It's the cellphone charger mod for Doom.

[lanosian @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:01AM]

you mean ms paint?

[thedesolate1 @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:10AM]

No its actually from breath of fire for GBA..

[dvsbstrd @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:16PM]

Dammit.

Why do they not disclose a manufacturer so we can all panic and unplug our chargers?

[Jenny @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:34PM]

No big loss, you should unplug it anyway, as it uses power even when your phone isn't attached to it.

[konshuss @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:23PM]

that graphic could not have been any better.

[JC Vazquez @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:30PM]

If by better you mean worse, then yea I completely agree.

[ethana2 @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:07AM]

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..

[Tom @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:23PM]

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.

[Reader @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:28PM]

I'd prefer a frequency that causes you to explode or start fire.

[andres @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:29PM]

you dont develop frequencies. thats like inventing honey.

[andres @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:30PM]

^

[BigD145 @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:30PM]

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?

[andres @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:30PM]

over 9000 hours in MsPaint

[Vander @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:21AM]

but not HD?

[MastrCake @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:31PM]

BURN!!!

[MastrCake @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:16AM]

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.

[Abuzar Baloach @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:35PM]

We don't need no water let the motherfu**ers burn! Burn motherfu**er, BURN!

[Brent1700 @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:12AM]

ew

[Abuzar Baloach @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:20AM]

What no one likes that song? C'mon.

[MadMike @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:47PM]

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.

[lorddshadow @ Sep 2nd 2008 11:54PM]

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.

[Curtis Joslin @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:12PM]

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?

[whatishalo? @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:11AM]

I call false. No mobile home can sustain $30,000 worth of damage. No mobile home is worth that much!

[Shadyman @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:18AM]

Doublewide?

[big al @ Sep 3rd 2008 11:31AM]

look at real estate here in the florida keys. there are mobile homes in the $500,000 range.

[ac14 @ Sep 3rd 2008 12:14AM]

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.

[Shadyman @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:19AM]

Nanofire?

[Yay. @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:17AM]

FIRST~~!~~!!~~!~ YEAHHH~~

[andres @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:00AM]

fail

[patriotsn1 @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:47AM]

LAST!!!! for now.....

[rony @ Sep 3rd 2008 5:43AM]

not so fast...................

[majortom @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:27PM]

the one response on the link page has all of you beat. Seems there is no love for our "original peoples" in the US.

[Lee @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:59PM]

Should we unplug all of ourelectrical components and keep the dynamite stored safely as well?

[Nelson @ Sep 6th 2008 12:58AM]

My charger did the same it destroyed my life and iphone, thank god for that now I live like a hobo