Teenager Saves Friends From Hoverboard Fire
A 13 year old boy from West Yorkshire is being hailed a hero after saving his two young friends from a house fire caused by a hoverboard.
A 13 year old boy from West Yorkshire is being hailed a hero after saving his two young friends from a house fire caused by a hoverboard.
Jibril Faris was playing at their house in Wyke in Bradford, when it caught alight while charging.
He led the other two children, a nine-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl, to an upstairs bedroom where he dialled 999.
The teenager followed the fire survival guidance given by the Control room and blocked the bottom of the door with materials to stop the smoke from getting into the bedroom.
On discovering the fire, a 39-year-old woman, who was also inside the property, managed to open the front door and lead the children outside.
Three fire engines arrived on the scene and firefighters put out the blaze.
Fire Investigator, Station Manager Mark Helliwell, said: “The children were in the living room when they saw smoke coming from the hoverboard and within seconds it suddenly exploded into flames.
“This must have been quite a scary experience for them as the fire quickly took hold of the sofa and spread rapidly throughout the living room, which has been left gutted, and the rest of the house is heavily smoke logged.
“The teenager’s quick thinking actions are certainly commendable and he later said that he remembered the Fire Service advice given in his school talk in Year 5.
“Fortunately everyone was able to get out of the house without sustaining serious injury, albeit having suffered smoke inhalation.”
The subsequent fire investigation found the origin of the fire was the hoverboard, which was connected to its dedicated charging unit and was plugged into a wall socket which was in the ‘on’ position.
The exact cause of the fire is difficult to confirm due to the fire damage that the hoverboard sustained.
However, the most likely cause of this fire is from the overheating of the lithium batteries which have exploded due to them not being configured correctly, or they have overheated to the point of igniting the hoverboard unit’s internal components due to the cut-off switch within the unit failing.