The 14-year-old was treated for burns in hospital after her smart phone, an iPhone 5c, caught fire and set her clothing alight.
The girl – who was in her school classroom in Maine, in the north-eastern United States, at the time, “heard a pop” and saw smoke coming from her back pocket, immediately sending fellow students for help.
Principal Jeff Rodman told local reporters the girl struggled to remove her trousers and used a “stop, drop and roll” response to put out the flames.
According to Seacoast Online, paramedics treated the girl – who’s injuries were described as “moderate” – at the school before transferring her to a nearby hospital.
Fire chief Andrew Palmeri has put the freak accident down to an “electrical short”.
He said: “People should obviously use caution when placing their phones in their back pockets so as not to crush them and cause an electrical short.”
