Home fire for not changing batteries for laptop

A person in the state of Florida said his Dell laptop had suddenly caught fire and burned home furnishings. He admitted hearing about the US computer maker's battery recovery plan but thought he would not have a chance to change it.

Louis Minnear, 36, smelled smoke at 5 am, but after checking around the house and found nothing, he went to sleep.

Minnear's house after the fire. Photo: HeraldTribune . About 45 minutes later, he awoke and found the sofa burning. On the chair is a brochure and a Latitude D500 computer that his wife bought two years ago. In just 20 minutes, the fire spread to other appliances and he could not save any valuable assets.

Police are continuing to check the scene but have not confirmed whether the fire is true from Dell's computer battery.

The accident happened less than a week after Dell announced its recall of 4.1 million Sony-made laptop batteries from April 2004 to July 18 this year. Minnear's Latitude D500 is also among these products.

Earlier, the world's leading PC maker also recorded 6 cases of their laptops having battery numbers but there were no cases of casualties.