Using an I-phone, Be Careful; 14-Year-Old Student's iPhone Catches Fire In Her Pocket

A middle school student in Kennebunk suffered second-degree burns Friday when her iPhone caught fire in her pants pocket just before a class, said her family and school officials.The eighth-grader sustained burns on one thigh and her back, and was taken to Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford for treatment. Her mother, Judy Milligan, said, “I was a little bit in shock” when the school notified her about the fire. She said she preferred not to release her daughter’s name. 

The 14-year-old girl had sat down just before her first-period French class Friday morning when she and her friends sitting nearby heard a pop from the Apple iPhone 5C she had been given by her mother two months earlier. “Immediately, smoke starts billowing from around the student,” said Jeff Rodman, principal of the Middle School of the Kennebunks. “She knew right away something was wrong and, in a panic, knew her pants were on fire caused by the cellphone.” The girl had to take off the pants, so girls in the class helped her into a corner of the room while others herded the boys from the room and summoned a teacher, who was standing just outside the door, Rodman said. “It was sensitive. She knew she was kind of in a tough situation,” he said. Teachers came to help, and someone in the main office called 911.

The girl had the presence of mind to “stop, drop and roll,” Rodman said, which reduced the flames and the injuries she suffered. “The phone fell out of her pocket ... and it was still smoldering. Her pants were still on fire,” he said. Once the pants were off, one teacher wrapped the girl in a blanket while they waited for rescue workers and firefighters to arrive.

“There’s basically a lithium-ion type rechargeable battery built in (to an iPhone). The battery, as it charges and discharges, it’s really a chemical reaction that can generate heat,” Rosenstein said. “It’s very rare there can be an issue, but any battery is just a chemical composition that can be flammable in extreme circumstances.”

Rosenstein couldn’t say what would have caused the battery in the eighth-grader’s phone to burn. He said there’s nothing else in the phone that could cause a fire. “These batteries installed in Apple products in particular are extremely safe. It’s an extremely rare incident,” he said.