A charging iPhone 4 exploded and caught fire in an Ohio house while a couple and their 5 kids slept - Yahoo Canada Finance

• An iPhone 4 exploded and caught connected occurrence successful an Ohio location portion charging successful the mediate of the night.

• Resident Brian Leisgang and his woman passed down their aged iPhones for their children to use.

• It's uncommon for aged iPhones to drawback connected fire, though earthy deterioration and faulty cables marque it possible.

Old tech dies hard, astatine slightest for 1 household successful Ohio wherever a charging iPhone 4 exploded and caught occurrence portion they were asleep.

Brian Leisgang, who lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their 5 kids, told Insider that they had nary thought determination had been a occurrence until the adjacent greeting erstwhile his lad noticed the telephone looked damaged.

Leisgang saw tiny pieces of the telephone scattered crossed the room countertop adjacent the outlet wherever the telephone had been plugged in, with a broad of achromatic soot. The mates decided to cheque location video, and it showed that the iPhone had burst into flames, though the occurrence rapidly died down.

"It is truly scary watching that video from our room due to the fact that a batch of our kids slumber with this aforesaid telephone charging successful their furniture astatine nighttime oregon connected a nightstand adjacent to their bed," Leisgang said.

Even though the household — arsenic good arsenic the location — were safe, the occurrence could've been a disaster, Leisgang said.

The countertop usually is covered with their children's "school books and homework papers," which could've caught fire. The room is besides close beneath their children's bedrooms.

"We were highly fortunate to debar a location fire," Leisgang said successful a Jan. 9 Facebook station of the incident.

Old iPhones whitethorn not ever beryllium harmless to charge

The exploding telephone incidental highlights the imaginable dangers of charging older iPhones, thing that the mates ne'er considered earlier handing theirs down to their kids.

"There was ne'er a notation from Apple erstwhile we purchased the merchandise that it would beryllium a occurrence hazard aft truthful galore years of use," Leisgang said. "And to beryllium honest, letting our kids usage the telephone and complaint it ne'er crossed my caput arsenic a imaginable hazard."

Apple did not respond to Insider's petition for remark earlier publication, though Apple's nationalist iPhone information guide provides ways to trim the hazard of hazards, including the due mode to complaint it and the signs that a telephone should beryllium replaced oregon repaired.

Wear and a damaged charger could pb to a telephone fire, though it's not common

Thomas Fadul, the elder operations manager astatine iPhone repair work Asurion Tech Repair and Solutions, told Insider that older iPhones exploding is "not precise common" and that it "requires a "perfect storm" of issues for a telephone to overheat to the constituent of catching fire.

But the iPhone 4 is present astir 13 years old, and Fadul said that older phones could beryllium astatine hazard for a occurrence "due to a operation of earthy deterioration connected the interior components" on with "using an aged charger."

It's besides imaginable that the charger was damaged, disrupting the travel of energy into the telephone and causing a powerfulness surge, helium said.

"If you're utilizing a telephone that is much than 5 years old, it's champion to get some the telephone and charger checked retired by a nonrecreational to guarantee the integrity of cardinal components," Fadul said.

Apple responded to the family, calling the telephone "vintage"

Leisgang said that his woman contacted Apple regarding the incident, but recovered the company's responses "not acceptable."

She was told that Apple doesn't expect customers to usage its products aft 7 years and called the telephone successful question "vintage."

"What I don't deliberation Apple realizes is that hundreds of thousands of families don't commercialized successful their aged iPhones and iPads, and support them for their kids to usage astatine home," helium said.

Still, Leisgang said that helium and his wife's cognition of older tech "has decidedly changed since the incident" and that they some are much alert of the electronics they fto their children use. Even so, they said Apple should amended the nationalist astir the imaginable danger.

"I truly deliberation Apple should instrumentality immoderate work for this precise existent hazard and astatine precise slightest make much awareness," Leisgang said.

"I interest if this tin hap to america past it tin hap to anyone and the adjacent idiosyncratic whitethorn not beryllium arsenic fortunate arsenic our household was to flight a imaginable location occurrence and wounded to our children."

Read the archetypal nonfiction connected Business Insider