PALM COAST, Fla. – Just days after Christmas, a family's home was destroyed when a hoverboard that had been a gift exploded, destroying everything in sight.
Melissa Bodiford said her 11-year-old son received a brand-new Hover-1 AllStar as a Christmas present and had been playing with it outside around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, then brought it inside and set it by his 6-year-old sister's bedroom door so he could watch a movie with his family.
Then, it erupted.
"Maybe 10 minutes after him, it wasn't plugged, nothing was plugged up. I hear a big explosion, it goes boom boom boom -- three big booms," Bodiford said. "Everything went to shaking up, everything went falling, everything went to blowing up and I just had to save my kids. I just had to save my daughter, save my son, save my niece."
Bodiford said she and her family escaped through a back door of their duplex unit on Buttonbush Lane. Officials from the Palm Coast Fire Department said it's a miracle that the family survived.
On Friday, only charred remnants were left in the unit.
Firefighters say it took about 20 minutes to extinguish the flames and by that point, the home was destroyed. Officials can't yet say for sure if the hoverboard is to blame, but evidence suggests that could be the case.
"My whole house, everything is gone, everything that I worked for is gone and I'm just happy that I have my son and my daughter and niece and me alive because the big explosion, it would have took all of us out," Bodiford said.
The Flagler County mother said while she's fortunate her family survived, this should not have happened in the first place.
"They need to ban the hoverboard. They shouldn't be allowed in any store anymore because I almost lost my life, my kids' life, and they shouldn't be allowed in any store," Bodiford said.
The family is receiving temporary housing assistance through the American Red Cross and is also hoping to receive donations from the community.
Clothing, shoes and other donations are being collected at the Fairfield Inn and Suites at 400 Old Kings Road in Palm Coast, and a GoFundMe page has also been established.