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As the UK sweats through one of its hottest spells of the year, fire safety officials are warning drivers to think twice before leaving tech gadgets behind in parked cars.
With parts of the country seeing temperatures soar to 34 or even 35 degrees, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service is urging people to take extra precautions — specifically with their everyday electronics.
According to the fire service when speaking to The Sun, there are three common items that could turn dangerous if left baking inside a vehicle: smartphones, power banks, and laptops. All of them rely on lithium-ion batteries, which don’t play well with extreme heat.
A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service explained: “Most devices that we use every day, phones, power banks, laptops etc have batteries containing lithium-ion”.
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“If exposed to high temperatures, they can go into thermal runaway, which is where they become volatile and can explode and start a fire.
“Although this usually happens if they are over-charged, being exposed to prolonged heat can also cause this.”
The dangers don’t stop at fire, either. High temperatures can mess with your tech long before it bursts into flames.
For phones especially, heat exposure can cause permanent battery damage, forcing you to recharge more frequently — or replace the battery altogether.
The fire service added: “The interior of a car on a hot day is almost like a greenhouse, trapping heat and causing temperatures to climb high”.
“Even if it doesn’t lead to thermal runaway, prolonged heat exposure can also impact the performance of the battery and shorten its life.”
If you’re heading out to the beach or just leaving the car for a bit, the advice is to take gadgets with you. But for those times when that’s not possible, there are still some better options.
The fire service further elaborated: “We would always recommend taking any devices that you need with you and not leaving them in a vehicle”. “If you do need to, think about where you park and try and find shaded areas. You can also think about where you leave the devices, for instance in the cooler parts of a car like under a seat.”
All in all, with temperatures getting hotter, don’t risk your tech or your car this summer. Just take it with you and save yourself some piece of mind instead of potentially having a very high bill to replace some precious belongings.
