Hoverboard catches fire, damages Brentwood home
BRENTWOOD, Calif. (KGO) -- A Brentwood family is lucky no one got hurt after a hoverboard that was a Christmas present started a fire.
The family says they had just charged the hoverboard when a girl stood on it. Then, the machine began popping and burst into flames. "Well she took it off of the charger, turned it on, stood on it and it started sparking up and making popping noises, so she kind of freaked out," Aliyah Denny said.
She tried to drag it out of the house, but it was already on fire and damaged an area inside the home. "She was screaming, I was trying to get someone to help and my uncle came out and poured a bucket of water on it," Denny said.
No one was hurt, but this is just the latest in a long list of hoverboard fires. At least 11 fires have been reported in 10 states and Amazon has pulled the product from its website. The United States Product Safety Commission is now investigating why they are catching on fire.
This Brentwood family knew about the problems, but bought two of them anyway. "You hear it all over TV and you hear different reports of it, but you never think 'oh that's gonna be my family,"' Denny said.
Cameron Washington can't stop thinking about what could have happened to his home and his daughter. "I was thinking that this morning when I was taking kids to school, it could have just been worse, could have lit the whole house on fire," he said.
Washington warned anyone who has a hoverboard waiting underneath the Christmas tree to get rid of it because it's not safe.
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