Latest news with #laptopfire
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Terrifying moment mother's HP laptop suddenly catches fire in her home after making strange hissing sound
A mother has captured the terrifying moment her HP laptop caught on fire in her own home after making a strange hissing sound. Claire Irvine, 46, was relaxing in the living room with her daughters when she heard the noise coming from the kitchen. Ms Irvine walked in to find thick smoke pouring out of her HP laptop, which had been left plugged in and open on the table after a day of use. The mother quickly unplugged the machine and rushed it outside, but parts of the machine had already melted the tablecloth and scorched the table beneath it. Although HP provided her with a replacement laptop, she says that since trying to claim expenses for damage to her furniture and urgent data recovery work, the computer brand has ignored her. Ms Irvine, a paramedic from Hertford, Hertfordshire, said: 'It was so scary. You don't expect something to just catch fire like that. 'I'm a paramedic so I'm used to dealing with emergencies, but seeing smoke coming off my kitchen table with the kids there was a real shock. 'I unplugged it and carried it straight outside. Luckily it cooled down on its own.' She later took the damaged laptop to a local technician, who determined that one of its three internal batteries had exploded. He was able to recover her data, including her university dissertation, but the process cost her nearly £300. Ms Irvine said: 'The local technician said there was no external cause. It just spontaneously burst. I hadn't done anything to the laptop to cause it. 'Luckily, he managed to recover my degree work, which was all on there.' HP issued the family with a replacement laptop a month later. But Ms Irvine claims the company has since gone silent after she submitted a £300 claim to cover data recovery and furniture repairs. She said: 'They were great to start with, really engaged and surprised by what happened. 'But as soon as they got the laptop back, it's like they shut down completely. Now they're just ignoring me and it's upsetting. 'I work for the NHS. I don't have money to waste. Being fobbed off like this isn't right.' It's not the first time that a HP laptop has caused damage. In 2017, an exploding laptop caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage to an X-ray lab at an NHS hospital. The Trust overseeing Ealing Hospital took HP to court over the incident, seeking almost £700,000 in compensation. The incident caused damage to equipment that was beyond repair, including a £410,000 endoscopic X-ray machine. And HP also recalled several models of laptop in 2018 and 2019 due to batteries' tendency to overheat.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
Derby laptop fried in latest TikTok trend
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – A new social media trend led to a fried laptop at Derby High School. It's the latest TikTok trend wreaking havoc in schools. The trend teaches kids how to fiddle with their school laptops to make smoke come out. It's been triggering chemical reactions leading to hazardous lithium battery fires. Derby's fire department says the danger goes beyond flammability. Parents are keeping an eye on the latest TikTok trends 'My son and his friend came home, I think it was last week, and said that someone in their class got their conduct card marked,' said Becky Howe, a mom in Winfield. She says the student who got marked was fiddling with a laptop. She says the trend is not surprising. 'They always pass, they always cycle through, and there's always the next one,' Howe said. Curiosity is getting the best of students at Derby High School. 'There's been a social media trend that's been online for about a week or so that demonstrates how you can cause a thermal runaway in a lithium-ion battery inside of a laptop,' said Derby Fire Marshal Jonathan Marr. The trend is causing real concern. 'Once you cause this thermal runaway to occur, you can't stop it, and it'll continue to get worse until it burns itself out,' Marr said. The fire department has to isolate the device. Because it's a chemical reaction, it can reignite, which also means it's more of a hazard. 'The gases that it releases are highly toxic,' Marr said. The school district says the laptops cost almost $400 to replace. 'I think education is always important in that and communication is important… reminding students that there are real consequences to certain actions,' said Katie Carlson 'Parents need to be educated and our children need to be educated that they're actually dangerous,' Howe said. The police chief in Derby says there can be serious legal consequences, too. Even incidents that happen in schools are presented to the DA's office. If the DA decides to pursue the case, not leaving it up to the school to decide appropriate discipline, the chief says the case would go to court, and a student could be charged with arson. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
