Whangārei house fire caused by cellphone charger, investigator says

After a Whangārei family lost a room in their house to a fire, an investigation has proven a cellphone charger was the main driver of the fire's ignition. Photo / Getty Images

Northlanders are being urged to switch off their chargers when they’re not in use after a cellphone charger caused a fire inside a Whangārei home.

Fire investigator Craig Bain says fires caused by chargers that have been placed underneath items are becoming more common.

Whangārei firefighters arrived on the scene at 12.26pm on Wednesday after members of the Heretaunga St household alerted them about a fire inside their house. The crew left around 3.10pm after extinguishing the fire.

Bain said no one was seriously harmed and the majority of the damage was confined to one room.

“The fire was caused by a cellphone charger that had been accidentally left under a bed. We believe that the cords heated up after some stuff [was] placed on top of them, thereby not allowing it to breathe, and over time, it just ignited.”

Bain said the message to the community, and especially the younger generation, was to switch off their chargers after use.

“We’re currently starting to see similar cases like these getting more common.”

He said some of the worst cases his crew had heard of - but not in this instance - were due to young people sleeping with their cellphone under their pillow, or forgetting to unplug their phone and leaving the live cable under the pillow, which doesn’t allow any air to circulate.

“It’s taking care of simple things like these that matter and creates the difference between it catching a fire or not,” Bain said.

“So, if you’ve got a charger for phones, vapes or laptops that doesn’t work properly, just chuck them away and buy a new one.”