NYPD tweets photos of charred pillows to warn about dangers of charging your cell in bed

The New York Police Department has cautioned people against sleeping with cell phones under their pillows with an alarming tweet showing bedspreads that have been set on fire.

Officers tweeted four pictures of pillows that have had holes burned in them after the cell phone underneath overheated and set light to them.

Fire chiefs have previously warned that sandwiching a charging phone between a pillow and a mattress can cause batteries to overheat and possibly catch fire or explode.

David Berardesca, fire chief from Hamden, Connecticut, told NBC: ‘The cell phone was left on the bed. These devices need areas to be ventilated.

‘It is recommended that you leave these type of devices on a hard surface so the heat can dissipate. The batteries heat up, they could melt – in some cases, explode – and cause a fire.’

He was speaking after a 15-year-old’s bed burst into flames after a charging cell phone caught fire, leading to his home being evacuated at around 4am.