A cellphone charger. File photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / pimonpim.A cellphone charger. File photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / pimonpim.
London

Phone charger may have sparked apartment fire

An early morning apartment fire in southwest London may have been caused by a phone charger.

Firefighters were called to the three-storey building at 430 North St., near Byron Baseline Road just after 5 a.m. Friday after a panicked resident spotted the flames in the bedroom of their unit.

"Our crews arrived on scene and quickly found the fire and extinguished it in about 10 minutes," said Platoon Chief Colin Shewell. "The fast attack by our crews contained the fire to the bedroom, although we did have to ventilate some smoke on other floors."

No one was hurt in the fire and damage is estimated at $10,000.

The building was evacuated as a precaution. All tenants, except those who lived in the unit where the fire broke out, were allowed back inside roughly an hour later.

Fire investigators have so far determined the blaze started near a mattress.

"The investigation is showing it was electrical in nature and there was a phone charger in the area," said Shewell. "They believe it started, possibility, with that phone charger."

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