Questions remain about hoverboard at center of Santa Rosa fire

A family whose beloved dogs were killed in a fire likely sparked by a hoverboard thought they had purchased one type of the popular scooter but may have received a totally different brand, Santa Rosa fire officials said Thursday.

A receipt from the Amazon purchase indicates the family bought a ForTech Two Wheeled Mini Smart Scooter; however, the user manual calls the device an A3 Original Transboard, Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal said. They paid $275, he said.

“We’re not telling people they can’t have hoverboards, but if you’re going to have one, buy it from a reliable source, follow manufacturer recommendations and make sure what you have is what you ordered,” Lowenthal said.

The discrepancy could indicate the scooter was a knockoff or produced by a less reputable manufacturer. Experts have said that lithium-ion batteries with low-quality materials are more susceptible to damage and, when punctured, can heat up and ignite.

That aspect of the fire’s circumstances will be handled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is investigating Tuesday’s blaze in Santa Rosa. It is the latest fire ignited by hoverboards nationwide - 40 fires so far in 19 states over the past year.

The 5 p.m. fire ignited in a girl’s bedroom where the hoverboard was plugged in and charging, causing an estimated $250,000 damage to the East Foothill Drive home in Santa Rosa’s Grace Tract neighborhood. The parents and their daughter were not home at the time of the fire, but the family’s Labradoodle and Boston terrier perished from apparent smoke inhalation.

There are no current safety standards for hoverboards, according to CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye. The commission regulates consumer products, reporting directly to Congress and the president, and has the authority to establish safety rules and ban dangerous products.

Commission investigators are examining the battery-run scooters to determine why some models burst into flames and under what circumstances, with a special focus on the scooters’ lithium-ion battery packs and the internal circuit boards.

The panel’s researchers are testing and evaluating scooters, including damaged devices involved in fires, at its Maryland laboratory.

The quality of hoverboards available online is wide, from models hitting $1,000 to those available on eBay for less than $200. The agency is focusing on 13 models of the self-balance boards, but the two models linked to the Santa Rosa fire are not part of its review.

Neither model could be readily found through online retailers Thursday. Amazon still lists a different type of scooter under the “Fortech” brand, a self-balancing scooter with handles and a seat. It was out of stock.

One reviewer on a generic-looking hoverboard site called the ForTech balance scooter “the cheapest electronic scooter for sale.”

The A3 Original Transboard has all but vanished from the Internet. The only mention, other than reviews, appears on a Facebook post from a sports store in the Cayman Islands.

Since mid-December, Amazon has offered full refunds to customers who purchased the scooters through the giant online retailer. Overstock.com has stopped carrying the devices.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.