CPSC Probing Fire Aboard Southwest Flight Said to Involve Replacement Note7

The Consumer Product Safety Commission “is moving expeditiously” to investigate the incident aboard a Southwest Airlines flight Wednesday in which a phone that its owner said was a replacement Samsung Galaxy Note7 caught fire as the flight was boarding in Louisville, CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye said in a statement. “Thankfully, reports indicate that all of the passengers were able to make it off the plane without harm,” said Kaye. After the incident, Southwest canceled flight 994 bound for Baltimore at 9:30 a.m., the airline said. CPSC staff “has already reached out to the FAA and Samsung to gather the facts about the incident,” said Kaye. “Agency staff will also reach out to the consumer who experienced a serious incident with his phone.” He repeated his call for consumers who still have the recalled Note7 to keep the phone powered down and turn it in for a replacement or refund. Sept. 15, CPSC cleared the replacement Note7s as safe, largely on the say-so of an engineer who works at CPSC’s National Product Testing and Evaluation Center in Rockville, Maryland (see 1609190059). Until Samsung is "able to retrieve the device" in question, it can't confirm the Southwest incident "involves the new Note7," a Samsung spokeswoman emailed us Thursday. Samsung is "working with the authorities" to recover the device and determine the cause of the incident, she said. "Once we have examined the device we will have more information to share." FAA representatives didn’t comment.