News

Warnings Roll in as Hoverboards Explode

Owen Boss

12/30/2015

Dec. 30--A hoverboard burst into flames and then exploded inside a crowded Texas mall Monday, the latest in a troubling rash of flare-ups that has fire officials from coast to coast warning about the risk posed by one of this year's hottest holiday toys.

"I think they really are a potential danger that could have a catastrophic outcome, whether it be property loss or injury to the operator and people in the area," state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan told the Herald yesterday. "These were a very hot item over the holiday season, there are a lot of them that have been purchased and there is a level of caution that needs to be taken."

Firefighters in Humble, Texas, responded to the Deerbrook Mall around 3 p.m. after receiving numerous 911 calls reporting that a hoverboard -- which runs on two wheels and is powered by a lithium-ion battery -- had spontaneously ignited near a kiosk, a fire official told the Herald.

Videos shared on social media appear to show mall employees trying to put out the burning hoverboard with fire extinguishers when the device suddenly erupts, sending flaming debris in their direction.

There were no reported injuries or property damage, the fire official said.

The incident in Humble comes less than a month after The Outlet Collection shopping center in Seattle was evacuated when a hoverboard suddenly exploded at a kiosk.

The sudden increase in hoverboard-related blazes has the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission investigating 16 fires linked to hoverboards in 12 states -- one of which occurred last month in a Somerville apartment, a fire official said.

Somerville firefighters responding to a reported fire at 3:28 p.m. Nov. 11 found the smoldering remains of a hoverboard that the owner already had snuffed out with a fire extinguisher, Somerville Deputy Fire Chief Christopher Major said.

"Fire investigators went down and spoke with the owner of the board, they looked at the box and they noticed it had no model number, no information that you would usually get with that kind of product," Major said, adding that Somerville was among the first U.S. fire departments to sound the alarm.

"This was one of the first indications of a real problem," Major said. "We started getting the word out just as this was starting to get covered."

The sudden surge in reported hoverboard combustions has major American airlines telling travelers not to pack them in their luggage, and businesses across the country telling customers they can't cruise the aisles on the self-balancing scooters.

Those preventative safety measures come as no shock to Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Mass-achusetts, who called banning hoverboards in Bay State businesses "a logical policy."

"I'm not at all surprised that they're being banned. I think as time goes on, you'll see more and more businesses adopting that policy," Hurst told the Herald. "You don't want to put that customer or the other customers at risk."