Cell phone sparks fire

Picaso's apartment after the fire

(Credit: NBC 11)

And here you're worried about a little silly radiation. The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that a man's cell phone burst into flame while he was carrying it in his pocket. Luis Picaso of Vallejo, California, received second- and third-degree burns to his body, back, right arm, and right leg after the fire spread to his clothes and ignited a nearby chair. Fire officials refused to disclose the phone's make and model but insisted the handset was the source of the blaze.

Though the story may sound too odd to be true, other instances of cell phones igniting have occurred. In 2004, a 16-year-old California girl was injured when her Kyocera 2325 caught fire. In that case the handset's battery overheated, but in all likelihood the Vallejo fire sparked for the same reason. That's just another reason to shun cell phone batteries that aren't endorsed by your phone's manufacturer or aren't meant for your specific cell phone model. They may be cheaper, but spontaneous combustion doesn't sound like fun. Just ask anyone who had an incident with a Lenovo laptop late last year.