This is freaky! A woman from Australia was left with painful burns after her headphones caught fire while she was wearing them.

She was on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne and fell asleep mid-flight with her headphones on. Just then, she heard an explosion and felt her ears get warm. She quickly took off her headphones and threw them on the ground where flight attendants put the fire out with water.

Passengers on board were uncomfortable with the smoke, but not as uncomfortable as this one passenger who suffered burns on her face and ears because her headphones exploded.

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There hasn’t been any info about which brand of headphones caught fire, but it seems the lithium-ion battery in the headphones is what caused the fire. Much like the fires we have heard about with the Samsung Note 7’s and tablets.

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A reminder to make sure any of your battery powered devices don’t get too hot. Here are some tips to keep your devices safe:

  1. The most important advice while dealing with electronics, in-flight and on ground, is to use original batteries and chargers. Over the years, cheap / counterfeit chargers / batteries have been found to be the root cause behind most fires / explosions, though the Galaxy Note 7-related incidents were obviously an exception.
  2. While most headphones do not come with batteries, if your headphones do, follow the same precautions as with any other electronics.
  3. Whenever possible, do not check-in battery-powered devices, and carry them in your cabin baggage. In the cabin, airline flight crews can better monitor conditions, and have access to the batteries or device if a fire does occur.
  4. Spare batteries and power banks should be carried in the cabin baggage, and shouldn’t be checked-in.
  5. If you’re travelling with spare batteries in addition to the ones inside your devices, TSA advises you to “consider placing each battery in its own protective case, plastic bag, or package, or place tape across the battery’s contacts to isolate terminals”.

 

 

-Kevin and Sonia

www.facebook.com/KevinAndSonia