RIVER FALLS, Wis. — It was a happy Christmas when Santa brought MonoRovers — known generically as hoverboards — to 11-year-old Riley and 8-year-old Addison Nesbitt of River Falls.
The girls enjoyed the two-wheel, battery-operated devices, which are like automatic skateboards.But less than a month later, one of the gifts did the unexpected.
On the afternoon of Jan. 21, a MonoRover exploded while its battery was being recharged.
“I saw (the flames) and I stopped, and I thought, ‘Wow, how could this ever happen to our family?’ ” Riley said. “I never thought it would happen.”
But it did. And it’s a miracle, the family said, that no one was injured, and the house is still standing.
Parents Kim and Jason Nesbitt said quick action — theirs, and the River Falls police and fire departments — plus a great deal of luck kept the blaze from becoming more serious.
Riley’s MonoRover was charging in a home office. She was sitting in the kitchen getting ready for supper with Addison; their 5-year-old brother, Colton; and two friends when they heard a loud noise.
Riley, who hadn’t realized her mother was in the garage getting frozen pizzas, thought she had gone into the office and dropped something.
When Riley opened the door, she got quite the shock.
“I saw the flames shoot up,” she said. “I looked at it, I yelled for my mom, and she came in and told us to get out and go across the street to our neighbor’s house.”
Kim came into the house to see what the noise was. She found her kids screaming.
“You’re not prepared for your house to be on fire, so when it happens you really just go into crisis mode,” Kim said. “And start doing everything you can. So I got the kids outside, I gave my oldest (Riley) my cellphone.”
It was the first time Riley had ever called 911.
Meanwhile, Jason was returning from driving another of his kids’ friends home.
“I happened to look at the house as I was pulling in and I saw fire through the office windows,” Jason said. “I think my stomach completely sank, and I couldn’t get into the house fast enough.
“I threw my truck in park as fast as I possibly could.”
With the kids safely across the street at a neighbor’s house and Riley calling 911, Kim and Jason rushed to douse the flames.
“The thing is, when you have an active fire, trying to fill up a bowl of water, it doesn’t fill very fast,” he said. “When you know there’s flames, you can’t fill up fast enough.”
So Jason let the wate
“As I was doing that, then (Kim) came in and threw a bucket of water and then I was able to grab the good side of the MonoRover, take it and run it outside and throw it outside.”
Then the Nesbitts tried to smother the flames with a wet towel.
When the police arrived, an officer put out the remaining flames with a fire extinguisher.
The MonoRover was destroyed. Parts of it sprayed across the damaged office like shrapnel, Kim said.
The office in their home is damaged and will need cleaning and repair. A large piece of the carpet was ruined. Charred bits of MonoRover were scattered across the room.
But luckily the house is still livable and the fire was put out before it spread.
“If we wouldn’t have been home, or just left, this would’ve been a total loss,” Jason said. “They’ve already said that.”
Despite their scare, the Nesbitts are counting their blessings. They’re also getting rid of Addison’s undamaged MonoRover.
Hoverboards went from virtually unknown in the United States a year ago to the hottest gadget around this past Christmas.
Estimates are that manufacturers, most of them in China, have sold millions of the two-wheel, lithium-ion battery-operated vehicles here in the past year for prices ranging from $250 to $1,500.
Now, because of concerns about spontaneous fires and injuries from falls, hoverboards are under review by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and airlines. Universities are banning them. Amazon is offering refunds to purchasers. And voluntary standards groups Underwriters Laboratories and ASTM are developing the first set of safety standards for hoverboards.
In one Consumer Product Safety Commission advisory, the agency urged consumers to be extremely careful and offered the following safety tips:
Have a working fire extinguisher nearby while charging or using these boards in and around your home.
Charge in an open area away from combustible materials.
l Wear a skateboard helmet, elbow and knee pads and wrist guards.
l Do not use a hoverboard on or near a road.
The Nesbitts did not own a fire extinguisher before the fire but plan to own one from now on.
One thing they won’t own anymore — another hoverboard.
This report includes information from the Tribune News Service.
