Texas Mall Evacuated After Hoverboard Catches Fire and Explodes [VIDEO]
There have been many reports of the new self-balancing scooters, also known as hoverboards, spontaneously catching fire, and the latest hoverboard disaster happened Monday (Dec 28) at a mall in Humble, Texas.
Firefighters were called to the Deerbrook mall at about 3:00 p.m. when a hoverboard at a kiosk burst into flames and set off a small explosion.
Amanda Rucka, a shopper who was at the mall when the incident happened, told ABC 13, "We heard what we thought was a bomb. We ran out to see, of course, to see what it was and it was actually a hoverboard that caught on fire and it was the batteries that were blowing up, not a bomb."
An employee at another store in the mall ran out with a fire extinguisher and put out the fire. After the fire was put out, white smoke billowed throughout the mall requiring a partial evacuation.
The Deerbrook mall responded with the following statement:
This afternoon there was an incident with a hoverboard at Deerbrook Mall which resulted in a small fire that was quickly contained. As a precaution, Humble Fire Department responded. Thankfully, there were no injuries or property damage. Deerbrook Mall remains open at this time.
There were no injuries reported and evacuees returned to the mall within 5-10 minutes.
Some reports indicate that the reason some of these self-balancing scooters are catching fire is due to the low-quality lithium-ion batteries used in the machines. While all lithium-ion batteries contain highly flammable components, some of the more-affordable brands are using cheaper batteries more susceptible to spontaneously catching fire.