Just last week, Samsung Electronics recalled about 2.5 million units of its newest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7, after many users started reporting that their brand new Samsung phablets had caught fire while charging. Reports have since indicated that batteries manufactured by the company’s sister concern, Samsung SDI, may have been the reason behind the fires that have been reported from many parts of the world, including the U.S. However, even though the very first instance of a Galaxy Note 7 catching on fire in the U.S. came to light only recently, a new report out of South Carolina now claims that a house fire in Horry County may well have originated from a Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.
According to Horry County Fire Rescue investigators, the fire that set a house ablaze last Sunday had likely started in the garage, where a shiny new Galaxy Note 7 was being charged. The homeowner, Mr. Wesley Hartzog, says that he had plugged in his new Galaxy Note 7 in the garage on the fateful day, before driving off to pick up his daughters. He came back to scenes of pandemonium all around, with his house up in flames and firefighters hard at work on the scene. According to Mr. Hartzog, an air compressor was also plugged into the same wall socket as the smartphone, but was switched off. While the needle of suspicion points at the Galaxy Note 7 right now, only a full investigation over the coming weeks will reveal the exact cause of the fire.
For now, Mr. Hartzog says he and his two daughters are having to live in hotels because the firefighters have not yet given them the permission to move back in. Thankfully, though, no loss of life was reported as a result of what could well be the second instance of a Galaxy Note 7 catching on fire in the U.S. Meanwhile, people who have already bought the phone will do well to get it replaced by a new one that won’t have the faulty battery cells, which, according to Samsung’s handset division chief, Mr. Koh Dong-jin, are the reason behind the fires in the company’s Galaxy Note 7 devices.