A mother in southwest Washington has to find a new home for her family, after a devastating blaze that she says started with the hoverboard her son got as a Christmas present.
The fire happened Friday evening, while the family was out running an errand. They had left the hoverboard plugged in and charging.
When they returned, they said they found it on fire. They tried to put out the fire, but sparks caught the sheets and the fire spread quickly.
"It was sparking, it was smoking, there were flames coming up from the hoverboard," said Shannon Williams, the mother of two boys.
"It was like an unreal, surreal moment," Williams said. "I was like, 'Is this really happening? This hoverboard is about to take down my whole home!'"
On Friday, D.C. Fire tweeted that the fire was the "result of hoverboard igniting while being charged."
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating this case, as well as dozens of others blamed on hoverboards across the country.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
The CPSC had recalled more than half a million hoverboards in July, saying their lithium-ion battery packs could overheat.
Williams said she bought this hoverboard for about $200 from a store in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
"I would hope they would just pull them off the market, at least until they are able to test them, and really have a clear understanding of why this defect is happening, what's causing them to overheat and self destruct like that," Williams said.
Williams and her sons, ages 3 and 7, are getting housing help from the Salvation Army for now. But they lost everything, except the clothes on their backs.
Friends have started a crowd-funding site to help the family recover. Click here to donate.
