Overheating chargers increasingly cause house fires in Netherlands

An increasing number of house fires in the Netherlands is caused by overheating chargers, according to the Home Fire Risk Monitor by the Netherlands Fire Brigade and Dutch association of insurers VNV. Do not leave a laptop, cellphone or tablet on charge overnight or when no one is at home, they warn, according to the Telegraaf.

Rudi Buis of the VNV could not say exactly how many fires are caused by chargers, but did say that most of them are caused by inferior equipment. "Especially chargers that are not original, but come from a discounter or cheap foreign mail order are dangerous and can easily overheat", Buis said to the newspaper. "Short circuit and fire can be the result." He described them as "life threatening".

Buis also warned of the danger of 'over charging' - when a device is on the charger for hours. "We recommend that you immediately unplug the power cord if the battery is full."

While Buis could give no exact figures, he said that this phenomenon is signaled "very clearly" and that the VNV wants to register chargers as a cause of fires in the coming year.