Narrative:

Upon taxi out purser called from back and informed first officer that we had a 'smoking cell phone' in the back of the cabin. I instructed the first officer to call back to the purser and commanded him to put the cell phone into a tcb (thermal containment bag). I stopped the airplane and set parking brake; called ground and requested them to roll crash fire rescue equipment (crash fire rescue) equipment. We were by this time able to smell an acrid smoke smell in the cockpit. In the meantime; purser had put the device in forward galley sink and doused it with water. He then put the phone in the tcb and then into an aft lavatory.when crash fire rescue services arrived at the airplane; they contacted me on discrete frequency provided by ground and asked what my requests were. I instructed them to board the airplane and remove the cell phone in tcb. Crash fire rescue equipment brought air-stairs to the airplane; boarded and removed the device. I later found out that the device in question was not a cell phone but a portable battery charger which the passenger had plugged into outlet in between seats. From reports from the flight attendants later; the way the incident transpired was that multiple passengers started ringing flight attendant call buttons smelling smoke. Passenger realized it was her device; unplugged it and walked forward through the cabin and handed it to the purser. The charger was described as 'smoking and hissing from all four corners.'after the incident was under control; [the] fire chief asked my intentions. I replied that the device was off the aircraft; there was no damage to the aircraft and no injuries associated with the incident and my intention was to continue. At this point; I attempted to contact [chief pilot] to validate the decisions I made but I was unsuccessful. I got a recording to leave a message. I called dispatcher [who] also tried to contact [chief pilot] by phone and he was also unsuccessful. He then said that he would walk over to the [chief pilot] and inform him of our situation and have [him] call me on my cell phone. During this time; police also came to and boarded the aircraft to assess the situation. After I am guessing 10 to 15 minutes of no response from [chief pilot]; I called dispatch back and asked if he had made contact with [chief pilot]. His response 'hasn't he called you?' the dispatcher was eventually able to transfer the call to [chief pilot]; we conferred and agreed the situation had been properly mediated and that continuation was appropriate. During the intervening time; however; one passenger had decided they wanted to get off the flight which required a return to the gate. We returned to the gate. Eleven passengers in total deplaned and we continued.I would like to commend the purser and other two flight attendants and my first officer for exemplary response to this incident. Crew coordination and communication is always difficult in these types of situations however; I am very proud of the response of all involved on the aircraft and on the ground.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain reported a passenger had a smoking battery charger in their possession; requiring a return to the gate.

Narrative: Upon taxi out Purser called from back and informed First Officer that we had a 'smoking cell phone' in the back of the cabin. I instructed the First Officer to call back to the Purser and commanded him to put the cell phone into a TCB (Thermal Containment Bag). I stopped the airplane and set parking brake; called Ground and requested them to roll CFR (Crash Fire Rescue) equipment. We were by this time able to smell an acrid smoke smell in the cockpit. In the meantime; Purser had put the device in forward galley sink and doused it with water. He then put the phone in the TCB and then into an aft lavatory.When crash fire rescue services arrived at the airplane; they contacted me on discrete frequency provided by Ground and asked what my requests were. I instructed them to board the airplane and remove the cell phone in TCB. CFR brought air-stairs to the airplane; boarded and removed the device. I later found out that the device in question was not a cell phone but a portable battery charger which the passenger had plugged into outlet in between seats. From reports from the flight attendants later; the way the incident transpired was that multiple passengers started ringing flight attendant call buttons smelling smoke. Passenger realized it was her device; unplugged it and walked forward through the cabin and handed it to the Purser. The charger was described as 'smoking and hissing from all four corners.'After the incident was under control; [the] Fire Chief asked my intentions. I replied that the device was off the aircraft; there was no damage to the aircraft and no injuries associated with the incident and my intention was to continue. At this point; I attempted to contact [Chief Pilot] to validate the decisions I made but I was unsuccessful. I got a recording to leave a message. I called Dispatcher [who] also tried to contact [Chief Pilot] by phone and he was also unsuccessful. He then said that he would walk over to the [Chief Pilot] and inform him of our situation and have [him] call me on my cell phone. During this time; Police also came to and boarded the aircraft to assess the situation. After I am guessing 10 to 15 minutes of no response from [Chief Pilot]; I called Dispatch back and asked if he had made contact with [Chief Pilot]. His response 'hasn't he called you?' The Dispatcher was eventually able to transfer the call to [Chief Pilot]; we conferred and agreed the situation had been properly mediated and that continuation was appropriate. During the intervening time; however; one passenger had decided they wanted to get off the flight which required a return to the gate. We returned to the gate. Eleven passengers in total deplaned and we continued.I would like to commend the Purser and other two flight attendants and my First Officer for exemplary response to this incident. Crew coordination and communication is always difficult in these types of situations however; I am very proud of the response of all involved on the aircraft and on the ground.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.