Police warn against the danger of sleeping with ... your cell phone 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Image 1 of 4 Goodbye, cell phone. Goodbye, bed. Goodbye, cell phone. Goodbye, bed. Image 2 of 4 
 
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 Police warn against the danger of sleeping with ... your cell phone 1 / 4 Back to Gallery 
 
 There is a chance your cell phone could set your head on fire, according to science (and the New York Police Department). 
 
 Depending on how intimate you are with your phone, those who charge their smartphones under their pillow while they sleep could find themselves fanning out the flames of their smothered device. 
 
 In an ominous and unexplained public service announcement, the 33rd Precinct in New York's Washington Heights sent out the following tweet Monday: 
 
 Don't put your cellphone under a pillow when sleeping or when charging your device.Please share this tip and b safe! pic.twitter.com/uwD3PXgVQf — NYPD 33rd Precinct (@NYPD33Pct) February 16, 2016 
 
 Those photos really do drive home the point, don't they? 
 
 This isn't necessarily new news, but it does dredge up the fact that phones can get really hot while being charged. Sandwiching a device between a pillow and mattress could hotbox a cell phone into a potential fire. 
 
 This isn't some newfangled wives' tale: this is an actual, observed phenomenon that a handful of people learn each year, as a Hamden, Conn., family experienced in 2015 when a teen's phone caught fire and torched his bed and pillow. Proper ventilation while charging a device is key. 
 
 "The cell phone was left on the bed. These devices need areas to be ventilated," Hamden Fire Chief David Berardesca told the local NBC affiliate. "It is recommended that you leave these types of devices on a hard surface so the heat can dissipate. The batteries heat up, they could melt – in some cases, explode – and cause a fire." 
 
 Nearly 472 retweets and 191 likes later — as of this writing — the police have not returned calls as to the reason for this tweet. The source of the photos could be from a 2014 Texas cell phone fire, as Gothamist reported, and it doesn't currently seem like there is an uptick in recent cell phone bed fires ... but place your phone on the nightstand, just in case. ||||| Fire officials are warning residents to be careful charging their devices after a cellphone ignited a bed and pillow in Hamden, Connecticut, overnight Friday, according to the fire department. 
 
 "I saw the flames," said Hamden resident Kimberly Johnson, who said the fire broke out in her 15-year-old son's bedroom. "When I ran upstairs, his entire left side of the bed was on fire." 
 
 Residents at 204 Franklin Road in Hamden ventilated the home and the fire was extinguished before emergency crews arrived around 4 a.m., but fire officials say it's a warning to residents about the dangers of charging electronics. 
 
 "I was just scared because all I saw was the flames and my son was laying there," Johnson said. 
 
 Chargers "need space to breathe" because they generate heat while in use, according to the Hamden Fire Department. 
 
 "The cell phone was left on the bed. These devices need areas to be ventilated," said Hamden Fire Chief David Berardesca. "It is recommended that you leave these type of devices on a hard surface so the heat can dissipate. The batteries heat up, they could melt – in some cases, explode – and cause a fire." 
 
 Never block the air vents on the back and sides of a laptop or leave charging devices on a bed while sleeping. Bedding and pillows can block airflow, fire officials said. 
 
 Check power cords and chargeres regularly for damage, and throw them out if they're frayed. Damaged cords can emit electrical sparks and ignite a fire. 
 
 Always unplug chargers that are not in use. They consume electricity even when the device is not charging. 
 
 More information is available through the Hamden Fire Marshal’s Office at 203-407-3182. ||||| An airline passenger has spoken of her horror when her battery-operated headphones exploded on her face mid-flight. 
 
 The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has issued a warning after the woman, travelling from Beijing to Melbourne on February 19, was left with a burnt face, hand and burnt hair. 
 
 The woman, whose identity has been concealed by the ATSB, said she was listening to music on a pair of battery-operated headphones when she fell asleep about two hours into the flight. 
 
 She woke to a loud explosion. 
 
 Related Articles Why Qantas won't let you pick up your phone if you drop it on board 
 
 "As I went to turn around I felt burning on my face," she said. 
 
 "I just grabbed my face which caused the headphones to go around my neck. 
 
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 "I continued to feel burning so I grabbed them off and threw them on the floor. They were sparking and had small amounts of fire." 
 
 Flight attendants quickly poured a bucket of water on the headphones but the battery and cover were melted and stuck to the floor of the aircraft. 
 
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 Link The woman was badly burnt when her headphones exploded on a flight from Beijing to Melbourne. Photos: Australian Transport Safety Bureau 
 
 Photos show her hair and eyebrows singed and filled with black soot. 
 
 For the remainder of the flight, passengers endured the smell of melted plastic, burnt electronics and burnt hair. 
 
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 Link The woman's hand was also burnt. Photo: Australian Transport Safety Bureau 
 
 "People were coughing and choking the entire way home," the passenger said. 
 
 A spokesman for the ATSB declined to reveal the brand of the headphones, saying all batteries are potentially risky. 
 
 "The ATSB has assessed that it is the batteries, as the power source, that caught on fire and are therefore the issue... All batteries contain stored energy and are therefore potentially risky." 
 
 In its safety warning, the ATSB said the potential for in-flight issues is increasing as the range of products using batteries grows. 
 
 Battery-powered devices should be stowed when not in use and spare batteries must be kept in carry-on baggage, not checked baggage, the warning said. 
 
 The incident follows several incidents of Samsung Galaxy phones and hoverboards exploding and being banned on planes. 
 
 Samsung recalled their Galaxy Note 7s due to faulty batteries that were catching fire. 
 
 In another incident, a phone battery caused a fire on a Qantas plane last year when the phone became stuck in a reclining chair and was crushed. 
 
 Lithium ion batteries, commonly used in phones and handheld electronics because they charge quickly and are compact, use highly flammable liquid that can explode if a battery short circuits. 
 
 Poorly constructed or older model lithium batteries are more likely to short circuit however tech website Gizmodo said over-heating and over-charging can also potentially cause an explosion in a 'perfect' battery. 
 
 The chance of your device exploding is "something like one in 10 million," Ken Boyce, from American safety consulting and certification company UL, told Gizmodo. 
 
 The Civil Aviation and Safety Authority has more information about travelling safely with batteries and portable power packs.
– A tip from the NYPD: "Don't put your cellphone under a pillow when sleeping or when charging your device"—unless you want to set your head on fire. Deputy Inspector Wilson Aramboles of the NYPD's 33rd Precinct shared that message on Twitter on Monday alongside photos of a charred phone, battery, and pillow. It isn't clear if the photos are tied to a recent accident or an old one; Gothamist reports they might be from a 2014 incident in which a Texas teen's Samsung Galaxy S4 started a fire under her pillow. Either way, they "really do drive home the point," notes the San Francisco Chronicle. Cell phones need room to breathe, especially as they heat up while charging. While keeping a hot phone away from flammable materials like a pillow might seem like a no-brainer, some people choose to sleep with their phones nearby and rely on features like vibrating alarms. "It is recommended that you leave these types of devices on a hard surface so the heat can dissipate. The batteries heat up, they could melt—in some cases, explode—and cause a fire," a fire chief told NBC Connecticut last May after a teen's phone set fire to his bed. (An exploding cell phone actually killed a man in China.)