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Earlier this month, a sports journalist from Los Angeles experienced a frightening incident when her portable charger erupted while she slept, resulting in chemical burns on her arm and damaging her bed.
“PSA to anybody that uses a portable charger: don’t,” Ashley Nevel said in a video she posted to her social media on Feb. 15. “Mine literally just exploded in my bed. Everything caught on fire. My mattress — burned a hole through it. I literally have nowhere to sleep.”
According to KCAL-TV, she credits an emergency fire blanket, a thoughtful housewarming gift from her father, for potentially saving her life.
“Avoid using portable chargers,” she urged. “I reek of smoke, and my entire apartment needs a thorough cleaning to eliminate the toxicity. I can’t even stay there right now. It’s awful. So, steer clear of portable chargers. Make sure you have a fire blanket nearby because it truly saved my life. I’m just thankful to be alive.”
The reporter shared her harrowing experience further, revealing, “Another terrifying aspect was that my phone was charged and connected to the charger when it overheated and exploded. As a result, I was unable to call 911 or make any phone calls.”
After she got back from the hospital, Nevel added, “Another terrifying part of all of this is my phone was charged. It was charging in the charger, and it overheated when the charger exploded, so I couldn’t call 911. I couldn’t make any phone calls.”
She said she was forced to run out on her balcony and scream for others to call 911 — all after waking up to the explosion at 5 a.m.
“Thankfully my neighbors were like, amazing,” she said, adding that emergency responders arrived within three minutes.
File photo of a phone charger that exploded. (Getty)
“When you’re dealing with something like that, fight or flight kicks in,” she said. “You have no f—ing idea what to do.”
Later, she also suggested that banning portable chargers on airplanes altogether might be a good idea.
“What if I was on an airplane and that happened?” she questioned. “What do you do in that situation? Like, everyone is in danger with a small little charger and I never thought that was going to happen to me.”
Damaged lithium cells from phone chargers. (Getty)
She added that she’s been walking around with portable chargers for years.
“You never think something is going to happen to you, and I’m just more thankful it isn’t more serious than it could have been,” she continued. “Yeah, throw away your portable chargers.”