A cellphone charger is believed to have caused a Waikato house fire which destroyed a bedroom and ensuite yesterday.
The phone had been plugged in for around half an hour in a bedroom when the room was engulfed in flames.
The 28-year-old man living in the Nawton house with his three children tried to fight the fire with a garden hose, but it was too late.
He suffered smoke inhalation while trying to close a door to stop the fire.
Hamilton senior station fire officer Dave Jenkins said the phone charger which caused the fire was tangled in knots.
It would have over-heated and the wiring would have caught fire, he told The Waikato Times.
He advised people with new mobile phones, with bundled up phone charger power cords, to unwind them before using them.
