Laptop owners are being urged to rethink where and when they charge their devices as warmer weather returns, with London Fire Brigade saying it attends an average of 24 fires each week started by chargers, batteries and cables. Its current electrical safety guidance specifically tells people not to leave phones or laptops plugged in to charge overnight. The warning now sits alongside the Brigade’s summer extreme-weather guide, which names laptops among everyday lithium-battery devices.
In that summer guide, London Fire Brigade says lithium batteries should be cool before charging, charged in a cool dry area and kept out of direct sunlight. It also advises people not to cover charging devices, to unplug them once fully charged and to use the correct charger. That makes the usual summer laptop grumble about a hot keyboard or noisy fan a home-safety issue, not just a performance problem.
The scale of lithium-battery incidents is wider than one appliance. QBE’s latest FOI analysis says UK fire brigades recorded 1,760 lithium-ion battery fires in the latest dataset, up 147% from 713 incidents in 2022, equivalent to one fire every five hours. London Fire Brigade recorded 522 incidents, the highest among UK services.
Heat is also part of the wider public-health picture this month. The UK Health Security Agency’s Beat the Heat advice, updated on 30 April 2026, says hot weather can cause overheating, dehydration, heat exhaustion and heatstroke, and that UKHSA works with the Met Office to issue alerts when temperatures may affect health. The Met Office long-range forecast says temperatures are expected to be above normal and very warm at times through late May, with some warm or very warm weather possible into early June.
London Fire Brigade’s battery guidance says lithium batteries, including those in laptops, can present a fire risk when they are over-charged, short-circuited, submerged in water or damaged. It also warns that counterfeit chargers can be deadly because many fail to meet UK safety regulations. For households using laptops on sofas, beds or sunny desks, the message is simple: heat, soft furnishings and the wrong charger are a bad mix.
A spokesperson from Techwala explains: “If a laptop feels hot to touch, the fan is roaring, it slows down, restarts or shuts itself off, treat that as a warning sign rather than a minor annoyance. Dust blocks the vents, so the fan has to work harder and heat stays trapped around the battery and internal parts. Switch it off, unplug it, let it cool, then use short bursts of canned air on the vents; if the case is swollen, smells odd, hisses, leaks or keeps overheating, stop charging it and get it checked.”
That advice is backed by manufacturer guidance. HP Support says dust and debris can obstruct laptop air vents and make fans work harder, and recommends turning the computer off, disconnecting power and using canned air to remove dust from vents to improve airflow. Dell Support says overheating computers can restart, shut down or suffer performance issues, and that excessive heat can damage internal components; it advises keeping laptops on a flat, hard surface rather than beds or blankets.
Anyone worried about a laptop this summer should start with the safest free checks: move it out of sunlight, place it on a table, remove anything covering the vents and unplug it once charged. A cheap can of compressed air can help clear dust when the machine is off and disconnected from power, but it is not a fix for damage or battery swelling. With warmer days forecast into early June, the safest routine is to charge cool, charge in sight and stop using any device that behaves strangely.