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Man warning public after Christmas decoration explodes near two-year-old daughter

Christmas decor explodes

A B.C. father is encouraging people to double check their Christmas decorations after one of his decorations exploded, nearly injuring his two-year-old daughter.

Kyle Benzies and his daughter from Maple Ridge were setting up a 4-foot reindeer decoration on Friday when the transformer blew up, CTV News Vancouver reports.

Benzies' home security camera caught the terrifying incident on video.

“(The) transformer blew on the actual unit, you can hear on the video the electrical pop. My daughter was terrified,” he said. “There was a genuine electrical explosion, it burnt our tile.”

Benzies daughter Melanie was just a foot away from the deer when it exploded and as seen on the video, she screams in terror and crawls away. Luckily, she was not injured but is still a little shaken. 

“She was terrified, flat out terrified,” Benzies said. “Right now she doesn’t want to go outside because that’s where daddy put the deer that are going to be going in the garbage.”

Benzies had purchased the deer from Home Depot in Langley a few years ago. The product is called 'Home Accents Holiday 42 inch Silver Sparkling Doe.' After the incident, Benzies called the store and he says they offered him a refund.

“I was kind of left with the thought that they wouldn’t do anything further," he says. 

Daniel Cowan, owner of Christmas light installation company Festilight, says not all holiday decorations are built the same and most products for residential use will start failing after two or three years, sometimes earlier. 

Places like Vancouver have higher failure rates for products outdoors due to the amount of rain. Cowan says it is imperative to check your Christmas lights when unpacking them. 

“Make sure that there aren’t any signs of corrosion. Test them on the ground, maybe around something that isn’t flammable,” Cowan said.

When it comes to putting away decorations and lights at the end of the holiday season, be sure they are dry and are stored in a breathable container. 

“The worst thing you can do is take a wet string of lights after you remove them from your home and put them in a sealed, plastic bin, because that’s where you’ll get a lot of corrosion.”

-With files from CTV News Vancouver



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