There has been much speculation in the media recently as to the safety of the wildly popular fidget spinner gadgets. Now it seems they could also offer a Fire Hazard, leading to more fears over child safety. A family in Gardendale, Alabama recently had an experience when their son’s Bluetooth-enabled version of the popular toy exploded.

As reported by WBRC Fox 6 News, Kimberly Allums first became aware of a problem when she heard her son screaming upstairs. It turned out that his fidget spinner, which had been charging for 45 minutes, had exploded and caught fire.

Woman’s son screams as his fidget spinner bursts into flames

Allums told the news service that her son had seen the fidget spinner explode and burst into flames and had started screaming the words, “Fire, fire.” When she ran upstairs and saw the gadget, it was smoking and in flames. Her son quickly put out the burning toy in a nearby sink, and a possible house fire was averted, although Allums did say the carpet was burned.

What was particularly worrying was the fact that the family was planning to leave the house in around five to ten minutes, which could have led to the house going up in flames.

She said it was lucky they were running late that morning.

While disaster was averted in this case, the incident has sparked fears that the popular fidget spinners could seriously pose a threat to their owners. As they are particularly popular with children, this can now be added to the list of dangers from the alleged stress-relieving gadgets.

Bluetooth-enabled gadgets and fire hazards

As noted by the International Business Times, Allums went to say she wants people to be aware of the dangers, as she has been receiving messages from other parents whose children have the same toy. She went on to say – particularly with the Bluetooth-enabled gadget that requires charging – parents need to pay attention to the manufacturers of the toys and do some research.

While trying to establish the manufacturer of her son’s toy, it turned out to be an unlicensed fidget spinner and the only identification it carried was to say it was “Made in China.”

As Blasting News reported earlier in June, customs officials in Frankfurt, Germany recently destroyed 35 tons of similar toys after officials deemed them unsafe. In that case, there was no CE mark on the product, which is necessary for the protection of customers, and the origin of the tens of thousands of toys was also China.

While those gadgets were not Bluetooth-enabled, and thus required no charging, officials had discovered that the LED lights on the gadgets could easily come unhinged, leading to the danger of children swallowing and choking on them.

That report also mentioned two incidences relating to the gadgets in Australia, where a teenage girl almost had her finger amputated after it got stuck in her fidget spinner. The other story was of a boy who swallowed a disk from his toy, which flew into his mouth when the side of the gadget cracked.

Fidget spinners with electronic components are becoming popular

As noted by the IB Times, the spinning gadgets have become the biggest toy craze of the year, with several schools banning them from classrooms. However, popularity has grown even more since fidget spinners with electronic components have been introduced on the market in recent months.

According to WBRC, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has already started investigating incidents of children choking on the toys. Since Allums made the CPSC aware of the fire hazards of her son’s Bluetooth-enabled gadget, they are now also investigating that model.
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