Loretta Luff was sitting inside her Langhorne home watching the Phillies game Sunday, her 6-year-old Dell laptop in her lap, when she began to smell something and heard a strange sound.
"The battery just exploded and it blew the laptop over," the 72-year-old said.
Luff looked down and realized to her horror that not only had her laptop exploded, but her shirt was on fire.
"Then I realized the rug was burning," Luff said. "So I took my shirt to smother that out. Then all these little fires started popping up so I was hitting them."
Luff was able to bring the fires under control after pouring a bowl of water on the flames. Firefighters responding to her residence on the 200 block of Comly Avenue were able to put out the remaining hot spots. When the smoke cleared, burn marks were left on her desk, carpet, shirt and even her dog's bed. The responding firefighters picked up the metal shards from the laptop that were scattered across the floor.
"They couldn't believe what they saw," Luff said.
Luff was taken to the St. Mary Medical Center where she was treated for chemical burns to her arm, chest, foot and face. She was later released.
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NBC10 tried to contact Dell's corporate office but the media number did not work and we received an error message when we tried to send an email.
Luff said she has not yet talked to anyone from Dell. Meanwhile, fire officials continue to investigate the cause of the explosion.
