By Caitlin Guilfoyle
MELBOURNE, Jan 5 AAP - A Melbourne family's home will be bulldozed after a faulty hoverboard sparked a fire 10 minutes after it was plugged in.
Authorities have examined the Christmas present and say its charger does not comply with safety standards.
They're trying to identify the brand and supplier of the unmarked product, which was bought from a Sydney-based distributor.
The hoverboard's battery caught fire as it charged in a bedroom in the Strathmore home on Monday.
Ash Ibraheim fled with his four daughters and pets after trying to extinguish the blaze with a bucket of water.
"It was too late, the bed had caught fire," he told reporters on Tuesday.
"In the panic of it all, I slipped, fell on my back. And then by the time I sort of came to stand up there was an explosion and I just sort of scrambled and ran out."
One of his daughters started charging the hoverboard about 10 minutes before the blaze started, Mr Ibraheim said.
The family lost the house but Mr Ibraheim is grateful everyone escaped.
"The rest doesn't really matter, it's all material," he said.
Fire investigator Rod East said the inside of the hoverboard's battery "spewed out" in the explosion.
The home will need to be bulldozed, he said.
Fire crews retrieved the burnt hoverboard from the rubble of the home, and another that wasn't damaged.
They handed both to Energy Safe Victoria (ESV), which found the model was non-compliant.
The regulator will investigate the brand name and supplier, before handing the case to its NSW counterpart.
Five hoverboard varieties have already been recalled across Australia because of faulty chargers.
It's not yet known whether the blaze was caused by a recalled model.
"Exercise caution," ESV spokesman Neil Fraser told AAP.
"Don't leave (a board) unattended while you're charging it until we know what make and model this one was."
Dom Terry, sales manager of Australian-based hoverboard company Rollmo, said cheap imitations are tarnishing companies like his that source from reputable suppliers that meet national safety standards.
"Everyone assumes that everyone is selling the exact same product under a different name," he told AAP.
Non-compliant products may have uncertified chargers that could overheat the battery or cause electric shocks, Mr Terry said.
Good hoverboards are available, he said.
"You will have to pay more for them, but you also have peace of mind."
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