Wesley Hartzog from South Carolina said that he plugged in his Galaxy Note 7 to charge before picking up his two daughters. Hours later, he returned to meet his house up in flames with firefighters surrounding it.
About a week ago, Samsung Electronics recalled roughly 2.5 million units of its new flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, after some users reported that the new device had caught fire while it was being charged. Investigations have revealed that batteries manufactured by Samsung's sister company, Samsung SDI, may be the cause of the explosion.
The Horry County Fire Rescue reported that the fire from Hartzog's residence likely originated from the garage, where the owner reportedly left his new Galaxy Note 7 to charge. He also noted that an air compressor was plugged into the same wall socket, but could not have been the cause of the fire because it was not turned on.
While the Galaxy Note 7 may be to blame for the fire in the Hartzogs' residence, Samsung Electronics, and the insurance company said that only a full investigation could deliver confirmation. Thankfully enough, no loss of life was reported, but the victim and his family have to live in a hotel until they are granted permission by firefighters to move back in.
Hartzog was apparently not aware that Samsung Electronics had recalled the Galaxy Note 7. Gizmodo noted in a previous article that the company did not exactly go through proper procedures to make their recall official. According to a source, the company failed to coordinate with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. If they had, there would have been coordinated efforts to remove the Galaxy Note 7 from store shelves, to avoid incidents such as what happened to Hartzog.
Samsung Electronics revealed that since Sept 1, there have been 35 reported cases of defective units of the Galaxy Note 7.