Narrative:

We had just finished boarding the plane. Everyone was onboard when passenger screamed 'fire'. A passenger came back with a small smoking battery in a cup. Someone else yelled there is still smoke. The D flight attendant grabbed the halon and started toward the area seat. Smoke was billowing and accumulating very quickly. I notified captain and he turned off all power. I opened aft galley and entry doors to let smoke out. Fire department was called. Everything was handled very well. My concern is I think the flight attendants should have been automatically pulled for the trip. The fumes were extremely strong and the smoke took some time to clear. In the excitement of everything; the C flight attendant had a very bad reaction to the smoke and with all the excitement; I hit my head and have a concussion.I think with just the stress alone the crew should have been relieved of duty and replaced. The captain did a wonderful job of looking out for his crew but it took tons of time to talk to [company communications system] and scheduling. I almost felt that I had to convince them that it was so bad. Having a concussion previously; I knew I had one; but I needed to answer so many questions when my captain had already told [company communications system] that myself and the C flight attendant needed to be replaced

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 Flight Attendant reported 'smoke-fume' event from smoking battery in passenger cabin during passenger boarding. Flight attendants reported experiencing health symptoms due to strong fumes/smoke.

Narrative: We had just finished boarding the plane. Everyone was onboard when passenger screamed 'fire'. A passenger came back with a small smoking battery in a cup. Someone else yelled there is still smoke. The D Flight Attendant grabbed the halon and started toward the area seat. Smoke was billowing and accumulating very quickly. I notified Captain and he turned off all power. I opened aft galley and entry doors to let smoke out. Fire Department was called. Everything was handled very well. My concern is I think the flight attendants should have been automatically pulled for the trip. The fumes were extremely strong and the smoke took some time to clear. In the excitement of everything; the C Flight Attendant had a very bad reaction to the smoke and with all the excitement; I hit my head and have a concussion.I think with just the stress alone the crew should have been relieved of duty and replaced. The Captain did a wonderful job of looking out for his crew but it took tons of time to talk to [Company Communications System] and Scheduling. I almost felt that I had to convince them that it was so bad. Having a concussion previously; I knew I had one; but I needed to answer so many questions when my Captain had already told [Company Communications System] that myself and the C Flight Attendant needed to be replaced

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.