Apple’s Amsterdam store was briefly evacuated on Sunday afternoon following what appears to the overheating of an iPad battery.
Image Credit: AT5
After trouble began store staff immediately put the tablet in a bin with sand, which seemed to halt the situation, Dutch blog iCulture noted. By around 2:20 p.m. local time, the city’s fire department was on the scene. Though there was no obvious smoke, three people reported respiratory issues.
The incident moved quickly enough that by 3 p.m., workers and shoppers were allowed to come back in.
While normally safe, lithium-ion batteries are still volatile — they can potentially explode or catch fire if something like leakage isn’t dealt with immediately. This year alone Apple stores have seen multiple battery incidents/a>, including some fires.
This may be related to Apple’s discounted replacements, instituted to placate people upset about the company throttling iPhones with weakened batteries. While the company has since made it possible to toggle throttling, people with older iPhones have been flooding Apple stores looking to get battery replacements before they return to $79 from their current $29. More foot traffic may mean a higher likelihood of discovering faults.