Hoverboard Sets House Afire in Australia

A house in suburban Melbourne was destroyed after a hoverboard caught fire and burned the house down. The hoverboard was charging when suddenly sparks start coming out of the hoverboard.

The hoverboard was given as a Christmas gift and was plugged into the wall in a young girl's bedroom when suddenly it ignited, as The Telegraph reported. A smoke alarm alerted the household of the danger, allowing and the entire family to escape. Unfortunately the house, located in Strathmore, northwest of Melbourne was severely damaged.

Hoverboard has been a hot item for Christmas and holiday gift, and that includes in Australia. However, concerns regarding the batteries that cause the self-balancing scooter erupted in flames have made authorities placed a restriction and regulation on hoverboard.

Airlines have banned hoverboard to on board the planes and authorities have placed restrictions on hoverboard to roam the street. Last week, Australian-Hollywood actor, Russel Crowe was denied from taking his hoverboard on board Virgin Air. Russel Crowe expressed his anger to Virgin over series of tweet.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have recalled five hoverboards over safety concern last December. The Commission also issued warning regarding a faulty designs that had caused fires overseas and injuring users. ACCC also advised the consumers to check all electrical products complied to Australian standards, marked with Australian regulatory compliance symbol or RCM.

Nevertheless, the hoverboards that set a house on fire Strathmore was Australian compliants. The parent, Ash Ibraheim said he had researched the presents for his four daughters, to make sure the product he bought is in compliance with Australian battery standards. "They were Christmas presents, all Australian compliant," he said.

Furthermore, Ibraheim told ABC, "We made sure, we got them in from Sydney. They had to comply with all our battery standards. We heard there were a lot of imported versions that weren't complying, so we wanted to make sure we got the right thing."

The fire brokeout 10 minutes after one of the girls plugged the hoverboard into the wall. After the incident, Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) said the rear of the home was severely damaged, while the rest of the building and its contents also suffered water and smoke damage.

Sydney Morning Herald reported that it took 25 firefighters and 30 minutes to bring the fire under control. The family was not injured in the fire and have found alternative accommodation.

Similar cases have also been found in U.S. and England, where houses were destroyed by fire because of hoverboard erupting in flames when plugged-in for charging. The case in Australia raised more concerns regarding the safety of the self-balancing scooter.