Sleeping man wakened by heat and flames from Samsung S5 phone

A Toronto man says he woke up to "massive flames shooting out the sides" of his Samsung S5 phone on Tuesday morning.

Mario Jakab went to bed around midnight on Tuesday, and woke up from the heat and firework-like sounds coming from his bedside table.

"I jumped out of bed, alerted my girlfriend because I wasn't sure if anything was going to catch fire," said Jakab. "I waited for the fire to go out, because I'm not touching a flame."

In a statement to CBC Toronto, a spokesperson for Samsungsaid customer safety was their highest priority.

"Upon being made aware of the reported incident we began working with Mr. Jakab to investigate the matter.Until we have had an opportunity to analyze the phone we are unable to comment on the matter further."

There were two-foot high flames pretty close to my face, shooting upwards. - Mario Jakab

Samsung has recalled batteries on the Galaxy Note 7 models, after the devices started catching fire. The S5 model is not included in the recall. This appears to be one of the first reports of an S5 catching fire, though a lawsuit filed in the U.S. alleges theproblem extends to several other smartphones.

• Samsung stops making Galaxy Note 7s as more ignite
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• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 banned from Canadian and U.S. flights

Jakabsaid a Samsung engineer picked up his device on Wednesday morning. When asked if he had modified the phone, he told them the battery and charging cable were all originals that came with the phone he bought in 2014.

"I couldn't pick up my phone or take a video of what it was doing, or even call 911," he says.

Jakab doesn't want to think what might have happened if he didn't wake up, or if the phone was in his pocket.

He wants people to learn from what happened to himand protect themselves, but said he would likely not change his own habits when it comes to charging his phone at night.

He also worries about children playing with Samsung phones.

"Just a battery heating up can burn a young child's hands, just from holding it," he said. "Apparently they're not toys, like we thought they were."

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