An iPad exploded during a probability lecture this morning, filling the room with smoke and prompting an evacuation of the building. A student told Cherwell that the lecturer initially told leaving students: “Where are you going? There’s probability to do”. The fire alarm soon went off, at which point he discontinued the lecture.
The student said: “Bless his heart, probability waits for no man. Dramatic day.”
The incident took place in the Andrew Wiles Building of Oxford Mathematics Institute. Several students said the iPad “blew up” or “exploded” while another believes that’s too dramatic of a word, more like an “intense fizzing of smoke” that lasted for about 30 seconds before the fire alarm went off.
An email from Oxford University Maths Department’s safety officer described it as a “small personal device fire”. Nobody was reported to be hurt, and students will collect their belongings in the afternoon.
A subsequent email added: “The building was safely and promptly evacuated and the problem device contained and removed from the building.” The mezzanine floor has been re-opened, except for lecture theatre L2 where the fire occurred, and ventilation effort is underway.
The incident can be viewed in the Maths Department’s lecture recording.
There have been prior reports of iPads “bursting into flames” but the “probability” of this is unclear. Cherwell has contacted Apple for a reply.
