Sleeping Boy Lucky To Escape After Tablet Catches Fire, Burns Hole In Mattress

Jun 27, 2019 by apost team

The Hewkin family is happy their son, Callum, is alive after their Samsung Galaxy tablet burned a hole through his mattress while he was asleep. Last Thursday morning, Callum’s parents had discovered his son’s room was filled with smoke and very close to catching fire from a tablet that was charging next to where their son had been sleeping. 

‘I was gobsmacked, I never thought it would happen to us or that something like that even could happen – you don’t expect an iPad or tablet to just start burning like that.’ Callum’s mother, Amy, told Metro UK.

Callum went to bed at 9 p.m. but disobeyed his parents rule on no gadgets in the bedrooms at night and snuck their Samsung Galaxy tablet into his room. He used the tablet until he fell asleep. In the morning, the family discovered the tablet had burnt not only through the bedding but all the way through the mattress to the metal springs according to The Mirror. 

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Though the smoke had already filled their son’s room, his bedroom door prevented the fire alarms from going off, so their son didn’t realize what had happened until his mother burst into his room in the morning and woke him up.

Firefighters told the family that if his mother had waited just 10 more minutes, the iPad could have burst into actual flames and started a blaze that would have been fatal for the entire family.

Callum was using the tablet’s original charger and cable, which were oddly still in perfect condition. He’s been anxious at school following the incident, but fortunately, was otherwise uninjured.

The Hewkins are now urging other parents to make sure their kids never bring their phones or tablets with them into bed. The Staffordshire Fire and Rescue service repeated the warning, urging people to avoid leaving items to charge on any flammable surface.

Has something similar ever happened to you? Let us know in the comments and pass this along to your friends and family to see what they think.