Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in our gadget-filled lives. You probably have multiple devices containing one within reach right now. It’s easy to forget how dangerous they can be, as a New Jersey family did when a speaker sitting on a bed began to give off smoke.
According to NBC New York, the mother and daughter panicked, grabbing the smoking speaker with an oven mitt and placing it in a paper bag. They recounted that the bag burst into flames after they got it out of the apartment. This is why you shouldn’t put a smoldering gadget in a paper bag.
The fire was put out with water and the fire department summoned, and the mother took to Twitter to warn others.
When something like this happens to you, after calling 911 and (optionally) posting about it on social media, gather all of the information that you have about the product and the incident and report it to Saferproducts.gov, the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s site.
Gizmodo speculates based on the speaker’s markings that it could potentially be a counterfeit version of the JBL Pulse.
We contacted JBL’s parent company, Harman, about these reports and will update this post if we hear anything back. Harman International was just acquired by Samsung, a deal that closed a few weeks ago on March 10. Samsung has presumably learned a lot about how to deal with overheating batteries.
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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