You never know what you're going to find when you dig down into the minutiae of the news.  One of our partner stations here at Townsquare Media/Shreveport-Bossier City is news station 101.7 and 710 KEEL.  When sources e-mail breaking news updates and general news releases to KEEL, my e-mail is included as a recipient.  Yesterday morning I was reading a news release from the Shreveport Fire Department that pertained to a house fire in the Highland Community.  A family of eight had escaped the fire, but sadly a puppy had died in the blaze.  The location and possible source of the fire?   A back bedroom and a hoverboard.

I was like, "What?!"  So, I did some investigating and discovered that hoverboards catching fire is not a new thing.  Turns out the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has recorded at least 60 reports of hoverboard fires that have damaged bedrooms, even entire homes.  The US Postal Service refuses to ship hoverboards anymore. Overstock.com is not overstocked, cuz they don't stock them at all.

The culprit is the lithium ion batteries that hoverboards use for power.  Yep, the same batteries used in your laptop, tablet, or smartphone.  If the battery pack short-circuits because it sustains some sort of damage, it could immediately explode.

So, if you've got a hoverboard around the house, you may want to keep it in a safe, fireproof area.  And now I'm thinking twice about carrying my cell phone in my pants pocket.  Yowie!

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