A white dog found a portable battery for charging cellphones lying on some cushions on the floor. It sniffed it, picked it up with its mouth, and started biting it. Seconds later, sparks were shooting directly from between its teeth. 🔥
The security camera installed in the living room of a home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, recorded every frame of what came next: the first pink flash, the cushions catching fire in less than three seconds, and the flames growing until they became a column of fire that consumed part of the house. The two dogs and the cat that were in the living room escaped on their own through a pet door installed in the home — no one intervened to rescue them. The family was not home at the time.
The Tulsa Fire Department published the video in May 2024 for this exact reason: so you would see it and understand that the charger you leave lying on the floor can do exactly the same thing. When a lithium-ion battery is punctured — even by a dog’s teeth — it instantly releases heat, flammable gases, and uncontrolled energy. Andy Little, spokesperson for the TFD, put it bluntly: if the pets had not had a way out, or if the family had been asleep, we would be talking about a very different story. 🐾