A Phoenix woman says she's worried that too many people are overlooking a common fire hazard in their home.
Nadine Atkinson says the charger for her iPad is to blame for a fire that ruined her home.
She says she plugged her iPad in, left it on the couch to run errands and came home to find her roommate extinguished a fire at her home.
“If Jose hadn't come home when he did, the dogs would've died,” she said through tears. “And he could've died.”
The fire was contained to her living room -- the couch charred, a hole burned through the hardwood floor, a couple of paintings burned and soot stained the walls -- but the smoke permeates the entire house, she says, making it unlivable.
"The smoke goes everywhere. It’s even in the toilet paper through the plastic," said Atkinson.
Atkinson said her first thought was the iPad because she says the damage was so severe but when she looked closer, she realized the cord was the more likely culprit and says she was told by an inspector that was the more likely source.
She says the cord was frayed -- a problem she says she’s had before with the same product as well as her daughters. She had fixed it with electrical tape, never thinking it could cause this level of damage.
She’s now trying to warn others so they don’t have to endure the same devastation of losing their things to a fire.
"You have any kind of problem with your cord, throw it away, and buy a new one no matter the cost," said Atkinson.
There are more than 2,000 charger reviews on Apple's website and over a thousand of them give a one-star rating and list similar complaints of quickly-worn charging cords.
