A cell phone battery spontaneously caught fire last month at a Defcon software hacker’s session – while in the back pocket of the owner’s pants.
The phone caught on fire, burned through the anonymous man’s pocket, and fell to the floor where it left burn marks.
The man was sitting when he smelled something burning and felt some heat underneath him on his seat. He stood up to find that his back left pocket was on fire. A hotel room key in his pocket between his phone and body protected him from injury.
Batteries can heat up if they touch something conductive, Don Bailey, a mobile expert at Capitol Hill Consultants, said. Something like steel wool could have caused the battery to heart up and catch on fire.
Image: CNET
