Police warn against the danger of sleeping with ... your cell phone 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Image 1 of 4 Goodbye, cell phone. Goodbye, bed. Goodbye, cell phone. Goodbye, bed. Image 2 of 4 
 
 Image 3 of 4 
 
 Image 4 of 4 
 
 Police warn against the danger of sleeping with ... your cell phone 1 / 4 Back to Gallery 
 
 There is a chance your cell phone could set your head on fire, according to science (and the New York Police Department). 
 
 Depending on how intimate you are with your phone, those who charge their smartphones under their pillow while they sleep could find themselves fanning out the flames of their smothered device. 
 
 In an ominous and unexplained public service announcement, the 33rd Precinct in New York's Washington Heights sent out the following tweet Monday: 
 
 Don't put your cellphone under a pillow when sleeping or when charging your device.Please share this tip and b safe! pic.twitter.com/uwD3PXgVQf — NYPD 33rd Precinct (@NYPD33Pct) February 16, 2016 
 
 Those photos really do drive home the point, don't they? 
 
 This isn't necessarily new news, but it does dredge up the fact that phones can get really hot while being charged. Sandwiching a device between a pillow and mattress could hotbox a cell phone into a potential fire. 
 
 This isn't some newfangled wives' tale: this is an actual, observed phenomenon that a handful of people learn each year, as a Hamden, Conn., family experienced in 2015 when a teen's phone caught fire and torched his bed and pillow. Proper ventilation while charging a device is key. 
 
 "The cell phone was left on the bed. These devices need areas to be ventilated," Hamden Fire Chief David Berardesca told the local NBC affiliate. "It is recommended that you leave these types of devices on a hard surface so the heat can dissipate. The batteries heat up, they could melt – in some cases, explode – and cause a fire." 
 
 Nearly 472 retweets and 191 likes later — as of this writing — the police have not returned calls as to the reason for this tweet. The source of the photos could be from a 2014 Texas cell phone fire, as Gothamist reported, and it doesn't currently seem like there is an uptick in recent cell phone bed fires ... but place your phone on the nightstand, just in case. ||||| Add a location to your Tweets 
 
 When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| Fire officials are warning residents to be careful charging their devices after a cellphone ignited a bed and pillow in Hamden, Connecticut, overnight Friday, according to the fire department. 
 
 "I saw the flames," said Hamden resident Kimberly Johnson, who said the fire broke out in her 15-year-old son's bedroom. "When I ran upstairs, his entire left side of the bed was on fire." 
 
 Residents at 204 Franklin Road in Hamden ventilated the home and the fire was extinguished before emergency crews arrived around 4 a.m., but fire officials say it's a warning to residents about the dangers of charging electronics. 
 
 "I was just scared because all I saw was the flames and my son was laying there," Johnson said. 
 
 Chargers "need space to breathe" because they generate heat while in use, according to the Hamden Fire Department. 
 
 "The cell phone was left on the bed. These devices need areas to be ventilated," said Hamden Fire Chief David Berardesca. "It is recommended that you leave these type of devices on a hard surface so the heat can dissipate. The batteries heat up, they could melt – in some cases, explode – and cause a fire." 
 
 Never block the air vents on the back and sides of a laptop or leave charging devices on a bed while sleeping. Bedding and pillows can block airflow, fire officials said. 
 
 Check power cords and chargeres regularly for damage, and throw them out if they're frayed. Damaged cords can emit electrical sparks and ignite a fire. 
 
 Always unplug chargers that are not in use. They consume electricity even when the device is not charging. 
 
 More information is available through the Hamden Fire Marshal’s Office at 203-407-3182.
– A tip from the NYPD: "Don't put your cellphone under a pillow when sleeping or when charging your device"—unless you want to set your head on fire. Deputy Inspector Wilson Aramboles of the NYPD's 33rd Precinct shared that message on Twitter on Monday alongside photos of a charred phone, battery, and pillow. It isn't clear if the photos are tied to a recent accident or an old one; Gothamist reports they might be from a 2014 incident in which a Texas teen's Samsung Galaxy S4 started a fire under her pillow. Either way, they "really do drive home the point," notes the San Francisco Chronicle. Cell phones need room to breathe, especially as they heat up while charging. While keeping a hot phone away from flammable materials like a pillow might seem like a no-brainer, some people choose to sleep with their phones nearby and rely on features like vibrating alarms. "It is recommended that you leave these types of devices on a hard surface so the heat can dissipate. The batteries heat up, they could melt—in some cases, explode—and cause a fire," a fire chief told NBC Connecticut last May after a teen's phone set fire to his bed. (An exploding cell phone actually killed a man in China.)