Costco Gives Shopper New Pants After Phone Catches Fire In Pocket

It must be terrifying and possibly humiliating to have your phone suddenly start smoking and catch fire in your pocket, causing you to ditch your pants in the middle of a store. At least one Costco shopper in Washington got a free pair of pants out of the ordeal.

KIRO News reports that the man was not injured in the incident that filled the store’s hardware section with smoke on Thursday.

A manager for the store tells KOMO News that upon arriving at the scene he saw the man with his pants off and a cell phone on the ground.

An employee quickly responded to the situation with a fire extinguisher, but the phone was no longer on fire, the manager tells KIRO News, adding that the pieces had left a burn mark on the floor.

Authorities were not called about the incident. The store provided the man with a new pair of pants, and he apparently went on his way, phone-less.

A witness tells KOMO that he was surprised when he saw the scene.

“There was so much smoke. And there were two or three people who had a fire extinguisher. They were trying to help him,” the witness said.

While it’s unclear what caused the phone to catch fire, the witness says the victim told him the phone was an LG device.