They weren’t injured, but the living room carpet will have to be replaced and the floor beneath it will have to be repaired.
“Luckily, we were home when it happened,” Josh Putnam, the dad, said of himself and his family. Had they not been at home, “our whole house would have burned down.”
Putnam said the family researched the Hoverboard and were satisfied by the literature that suggested the ones with the three prongs were safe enough to plug into a wall socket when a recharge was needed.
Putnam said a neighbor came in with an extinguisher to help put out the fire before a crew from the Miami Valley Fire District arrived. Miamisburg police arrived before the fire crew and reported that the fire had been put out.
Battalion Chief Glen Jirka said his crew cut out some of the carpeting because it was still smoldering when they arrived.
The fire hazard has prompted retailers to stop selling Hoverboards. Companies have stopped manufacturing them. Several colleges and universities in the Miami Valley have banned them from campuses. Airlines don’t allow them on flights.
Jirka said, “The easiest thing to do is to err on the side of caution. I can’t speak for any company, but if an airline isn’t willing to let me put it on their airplane then I’m not willing to put one in my house. That’s a simple rule for me.”
When asked to comment on whether anyone should buy a Hoverboard, he said, “If I can’t fly with it because they’re worried it’s going to burst into flames, then I don’t want it in my house.”
Putnam wasn’t shy about offering his opinion on the purchase of Hoverboards.
“Don’t buy ‘em,” he said. “Now we gotta go through this and get our house fixed.”
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