E Reader Device Spontaneously Combusts At FDL School

Fond du Lac’s Fire Chief is cautioning residents after an E-reader spontaneously combusted at the Roberts Elementary School Tuesday afternoon. Pete O’Leary says there was no warning when the Acer E-reader began smoking and started on fire. There was no damage other than to the device. Chief O’Leary says they contacted the manufacturer and also alerted the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He says there was no particular recall for the device. He says sometimes devices malfunction through no fault of the consumer. The device was manufactured in 2014. Chief O’Leary says a common denominator in similar incidents seems to be Lithium-ion batteries. He notes a woman on an International flight was burned about the face last month when the battery operated headphones she was listening to music on exploded. (Fond du Lac Fire/Rescue photo)