Survey confirms: Our readers know what to do when faced with a phone fire

How many different ways do you worry about losing your phone? Snatched out of your hands by a thief? Dropped down the crack as you step off an elevator? Washed away by a wave while filming a TikTok at the beach? Out of all those horrible fates, seeing our phones melt down in a cloud of flames and smoke has got to be just about the most traumatic — and for good reason. More than just getting our phone trashed, a fire risks putting other people and property in danger. If the worst ever happens, what would you do?

After sharing one Galaxy S25 Plus user’s harrowing tale of a device fire with you, we couldn’t stop thinking about how we might react ourselves — it’s one thing to talk about taking the correct steps to deal with a sudden phone fire, while quite another to be ready to act when actually faced with some real-life panic. Would you know what to do?

Well, we asked you just that, and after hearing back from over 1,200 readers, we’re pleased to say that most of you seem ready to deal with a tragedy like this.

The good news: You’re probably not going to actively make things worse. Throwing water on a burning smartphone isn’t nearly as bad an idea as water on a grease fire — but it’s also not going to help much, either. Really, your best bet there would be knocking the phone into a tub or sink that’s already full of water. But just spraying it with water’s not going to accomplish much. Thankfully, under 7% of you would try anything like that.

The vast majority of you fall into one of two camps — both taking a reasonable approach. Right around 35% of you would try to smother the fire rather than using water, and that’s just about the same fraction that would react by getting the hell out of there. Admittedly, clothing probably isn’t the best choice for smothering an intensely hot lithium fire, but covering your phone with something non-flammable would be a solid approach.

And whether or not you’re able to find anything like that, simply getting yourself and others as far away from the fire as possible is always going to be a smart move. If you can’t stop the harm, at least get out of harm’s way.

Only about 13% of you have the self-awareness to realize you might just find yourself a little overwhelmed and useless when confronted with an unexpected phone fire — let’s just hope you come to your senses fast, or at least that adrenaline kicks in. And no matter what your initial reaction is, with a hazard like a burning phone, you’re always going to want to get emergency authorities involved — about 10% of you would just reach right out to them, straight away.

All told, those are some pretty respectable responses, and they paint the picture of a smartphone-using public that’s at least appropriately aware of the potential dangers lurking inside the batteries in their phones. Hopefully none of you ever experience anything like this, but if you do, just remember: phones are replaceable — people aren’t.