School officials in Maine say a 13-year-old girl suffered first- and second-degree burns when her iPhone caught fire in her pants, reports WMTW.The trouble began when the girl sat down, heard a popping sound from the back pocket where her phone was located, and noticed smoke, reports the Bangor Daily News.
The girl’s friends asked boys to step outside as she ditched her pants, and a teacher brought a blanket. She was later treated and released from the hospital.
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So what happened? Fire officials in Kennebunk are investigating, but one speculates to Seacoast Online that the phone’s battery “shorted out” when the girl sat down.
“People should obviously use caution when placing their phones in their back pockets so as not to crush them and cause an electrical short,” one official says. (There’s no official word from Apple after the report.)
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” says the principal, who credits the girl with a “stop, drop, and roll” move when the incident happened.
