One Christmas gift went horribly wrong for a family in Washington state this past weekend.
On Friday night, The Harden family, of Bellingham, Wash., bought a Tonka 12V Ride-On Dump Truck for their grandson from a local Toys “R” Us. But on the way home, the toy reportedly caught fire.
Delmond Harden told an NBC Seattle affiliate that he pulled over to put out the flames before driving back to the store to return the toy. But the toy truck ignited again, this time setting the Harden’s real truck on fire.
Https://www.facebook.com/NBCNews/videos/vb.155869377766434/1577694925583865/?type=2&theater
Toys R Us stops selling Tonka truck after it catches fire with 20-foot flames https://t.co/s8RAKA0dvS pic.twitter.com/k6CS5xv1q3
— Geoff Herbert (@deafgeoff) November 21, 2016
“The firefighter … doused the truck with water and I’m, I still can’t believe it, we almost shut (Interstate)-5 down, and it was just a toy for our grandson, who would have known,” Delmond Harden told the local news outlet.
Related: From Domino’s Pizza to Ann Arbor to Toys “R” Us: Dave Brandon, Unfiltered
Nicole Hayes, a Toys “R” Us spokeswoman, told Coins2Day in an email that the incident appears to be an isolated one, but “out of an abundance of caution we are implementing a stop-sale and pulling the item from our stores and Toysrus.com pending further investigation.”
She added that the toy retailer is “working closely” with Dynacraft, the toy’s manufacturer, to determine the cause of the fire.
In a prepared statement, Dynacraft told Coins2Day in an email that it “has been made aware of what appears to be an isolated incident and is in the process of thoroughly investigating the matter.”
It continued: “Safety is at the forefront of the Dynacraft company and an area that the Senior Management takes very seriously. Dynacraft is working around the clock in cooperation with their supplier and the Toys ‘R’ Us Management team to identify the cause.”
This story has been updated to reflect comment from Dynacraft.
