A brand new hoverboard that was given to a 10-year-old as a Christmas present burst into flames inside a Brooklඣyn apartment Tuesday night, officials said.๊
“Unequivocally, I wouldn’t plug one in in my home,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at an FDNY promotions ceremony Wednesday.
The owner of the self-balancing scooter, little D-𒆙Alias Johnson, of Crown Heights, plugged in the popular toy into an outlet to charge at around 3 p.m. inside his parents sixth-floor apartment in the Kingsborough Houses and watched in horror as it burned before his very eyes about two hours later.
He is now swearing off all hoverboards, despite ꦜwanting one since summer.
“He doesn’t want it (replaced),” his mother, Loretta Johnson, 43, told The Post.
“He’s bargaining us for a new gift,” she said. “He wants a Wii U.”
Johnson said her and her husband, Shelly, were sitting in the living room watching TV൩ when the hoverboard went up in flames as it was charging.
“It was sitting on the floor, plugged in, and it went BOOM,” she recalled.
“There were flames and sparks everywhere,” she told The Post. “We jumped up and my husband ran to the kitchen to get water and I ran to the neighbors to tell them to call 911 and get water out of their apartment. The thing was still blowing up and popping pieces all over the place. We were very, very scared.”
D-Alias, who was in another room at the time, heard the 🍨commotion and quickly ran in to see what was happening.
“I heard my mom and dad freaking out,” he said. “I saw fire and smoke and I said, ‘mommy and daddy, what is happening,’ and I started crying.”
Once the family managed to put the fire out, Shelly — who is a Department of Homeless Services officer — cut the circuit breaker and placed the $400 hoverboard outside in the hallway. He said he could barely see what he was doing because of all the smoke.
“The apartment was black,” he recalled.
The family then callไed 911 and waited for auth🌳orities to arrive.
“The owners reacted promptly…and no one was hurt,” Nigro said, adding “they were lucky.”
“Lithium-Ion batteries get very hot, and obviously these require a lot of power to carry a person,” he explained. “There have been reports of this all around the country. We could have had a tragedy in Brooklyn. It was averted.”
Chief Fire Marshal Robert Byrnes said the fire initially started inside the hoverboard’s battery housing unit.
“We think this may possibly be an issue with the battery becoming wet, but we’re still in the very early phases of our investigation,” he said.
The Johnson family said they purchased the hoverboard on Amazon from a company called “Smart Balance.”
“They should take it off the market,” D-Alias urged.
According to the fire comꦰmissioner, the latest case🌳 of self-balancing scooter combustion is the second such incident to have happened in NYC.
“The first was on Staten Island,” Nigro said. “It doesn’t take much thinking to see this will happen again. We’re very concerned. We expect to see more.”
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has said that it has received dozens of reports of hoverboard-related injuries across th꧑e country and that agents are actively investigating fires caused by the pricey toys.
While the popular Christmas gifts could soon be legal in New🌳 York under legislation being pushed by Albany, the commissioner feels they should be banned for goodಞ.
“Making these legal is encouraging people to have them in their homes, and plug them in. So no, I wouldn’t encourage that,” he said. “Airlines have all banned these. Not just plugging them in — you can’t take them on a plane at all. That should tell you something.”
