Putting out a literal fire

Putting out a literal fire

Hello friends,

So, last summer I was working at a managed services company. Our main work area was empty except for one cowork and I this morning as everyone else was either in a meeting or out at a customer site. I was sitting at my desk on some support call with a customer when all of a sudden i hear a loud hiss and pop sound. I was distracted with my call and didnt think anything of it. Shortly after I hear "uhh OP my computer is on fire" I turn around and see a huge cloud of black smoke rising above my coworkers desk. I looked at my coworker and said something along the lines of "No it looks like it's just smoking." His reply " No it's literally on fire." I stood up and walked over and sure enough there was about 3-4 inches of flame burning up from the side of his laptop. We used these plastic desk platforms that let you raise your desk to a standing desk and the plastic was starting to melt/burn. I'll admit for about 3 seconds I froze because I was thinking about how to put out this fire. The only things in view were a bunch of paper, cardboard and plastic packaging. None of which are wise things to use to put out a fire. I briefly thought about chucking the laptop into the office sink but I figured that would be a bad idea because ya know I would have to pick up the burning thing. I ended up remembering that I had a microfiber bag from some vendor swag on my desk so I used it to quickly smother the fire. After all was said and done we figures out his battery had exploded. It was a good thing it went out the side because there were pieces of melted metal amd plastic streaked over the empty desk next to him. The whole office smelled like burnt plastic the rest of the day and my coworker and I did not get much work accomplished that day after the incident. Our boss came in later that day with a bag full of mini fire extinguishers that he placed around the office to help with future fire incidents. Also, funnily enough my coworker asked me to work with the person he had been on the phone with after he calmly told them that his laptop was on fire and put them on hold.## TLDR Summary:

We used these plastic desk platforms that let you raise your desk to a standing desk and the plastic was starting to melt/burn. Our boss came in later that day with a bag full of mini fire extinguishers that he placed around the office to help with future fire incidents. The whole office smelled like burnt plastic the rest of the day and my coworker and I did not get much work accomplished that day after the incident. Shortly after I hear "uhh OP my computer is on fire" I turn around and see a huge cloud of black smoke rising above my coworkers desk. I ended up remembering that I had a microfiber bag from some vendor swag on my desk so I used it to quickly smother the fire. It was a good thing it went out the side because there were pieces of melted metal amd plastic streaked over the empty desk next to him. I was sitting at my desk on some support call with a customer when all of a sudden i hear a loud hiss and pop sound.