Teen escapes through window after hoverboard explodes

PORTLAND, Oregon (WPVI) -- Savvy family planning is credited with helping a teen escape a burning home after a hoverboard exploded.

Matthew Brown was in his upstairs bedroom in his Portland, Oregon, home when his brother's hoverboard suddenly went up in flames at the bottom of the staircase. And it was blocking his path to safety.

"I just didn't want it to get up the stairs, so I was really rushed," he said. "I didn't know what to do, and then I remembered we had planned this."

Brown quickly grabbed his emergency ladder from his closet and climbed out the window to safety.

"I was taking a nap, so I was awoken by a noise thinking it was (wife) Marci doing some laundry," dad Bruce Pettibone said. "I opened the door, and that's when I saw the flames coming from the other room."

Pettibone said the hoverboard, which was not charging at the time, was shooting fiery batteries like a cannon.

"I just started yelling fire and grabbing the extinguisher," he said. "Just trying to put the fire out."

Brown said he always thought his mom was just being paranoid, but she knew better.

"I just want my kids to be prepared, so I'm glad it was up there and I'm glad he was prepared and that he know how to use it," Marci Brown said. "I could tell how swiftly he came out the window. It was a proud, proud mom moment."

Investigators are looking into what caused the fire, but the family says they're just grateful everyone is OK and that they had a fire escape plan.

"You got to have it, because you never know," Pettibone said. "You just never know when something like that is going to happen."

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