Hoverboard burns in Petaluma home

A hoverboard plugged into an electrical outlet burst into flames at a Petaluma home Monday night but caused little damage, the second hoverboard fire in Sonoma County in a week.

A U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission investigator visited the Petaluma Fire Department on Tuesday, adding the Petaluma fire to the list of at least 40 fires in 19 states believed to have been caused by the battery-operated scooters. The federal agency is investigating the fires.

The hoverboard, which was purchased online and was being charged in a bedroom, caught fire at about 7 p.m. Monday. The residents were elsewhere in the home at the time and no one was injured, Petaluma fire Battalion Chief Mike Medeiros said.

Medeiros said the homeowner told firefighters he heard an explosion downstairs and found his daughter’s hoverboard ablaze and shooting embers and portions of the device throughout the bedroom and hallway. The man used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames and unplugged the hoverboard.

“They were very lucky,” Medeiros said, noting that the family was home at the time and the hoverboard wasn’t near flammable items.

Petaluma fire officials will contact federal authorities regarding the fire, just as Santa Rosa did last week. “We’ll do the same due diligence and have the consumer safety commission look at it. They’ll want to,” he said.

Damage was estimated at roughly $10,000. The hoverboard, equipped with a lithium-ion battery, was a model called a Mini Smart Self Balancing 2 Wheel Electric Scooter with LED Light.

On Jan. 20, a hoverboard ignited while being charged in a Santa Rosa home, causing $250,000 in damage to the East Foothill Drive house and killing two dogs.