The death of a young girl last Friday, reportedly due to a fire caused by a faulty hoverboard, is believed to be the first resulting from the brief hoverboard craze from a year ago, which saw tons of self-balancing scooters flying off of the shelves, according to CNN. The fire in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, also sent six people to the hospital.
Last summer, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall of ten hoverboard brands after dozens of reports of fires caused by the device. More than half a million scooters were recalled. Hoverboard fires generally occur while the device is charging, and so users are advised not to charge them overnight or unattended.
Harrisburg’s fire chief cited a hoverboard as the cause of death when speaking with PennLive, though a CPSC spokesperson told CNN, “We do not know whether the tragic incident in Harrisburg involved a recalled hoverboard or not.”
