Today in hoverboards: Priest takes a spin in church, exploding unit burns in mall

In the four days since 2015's "hottest holiday gift" was unleashed from beneath Christmas trees, at least 70 hoverboard-related emergency room visits were reportedin the U.S. alone.

Self-balancing scooters(which don't actually hover above the ground, despite what theirmost-popularmonikerimplies) have alsobeen linked to 22separatefires in 17 states by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's most recent numbers.

Suffice it to saythese toyshave become well-known at this point for how dangerous they can be both to our bodies and to our homes.

And yet,hoverboard horror stories continue torollin by the dozens each dayas consumers literallyplay with fire in the name of fun.

Hoverboard explosion leads to fire atTexas shopping mall

Hundreds of people werereportedly evacuated from a mall inHumble, Texas, on Monday when a hoverboard exploded and caught fire just steps from a kiosk that sold them.

Local firefighters toldHouston CBS-affiliateKHOU 11 that the hoverboard was still in itsbox when the explosion occurred at DeerbrookMall, and witnesses reported hearing a sound"like a bomb" or "fireworks" at the time of the incident.

A security guard used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames, and nobody was injuredaccording to WPIX-TV.

Some shoppers seemed shaken, however, or at least annoyed by the inconvenienceas they shared photos ofsmoke filling the mall before they were forced to leave.

Catholicpriest suspended for conducting mass onhoverboard

If you were thinking about bringing your new scooterto work, you may want to reconsider especially if you work in a church. As a priest.

"Hoverboard priest" has been delighting people around the world since Tuesday when a video of his Christmas Eve mass in the Philippines went viral.

Originally uploaded to Facebookby a Colombian radio station, the video shows an unidentified priest riding through church on a self-balancing scooter while singing May the Good Lord Bless and Keep Youinto a microphone for nearly three minutes.

The video had beenviewed more than 14 million times by Tuesday afternoon, prompting theRoman Catholicdiocese of San PabloinManila to issue an official response.

"The priest said that it was a wake-up call for him; he acknowledged that his action was not right and promised that it will not happen again,"reads the statement, as published by Filipino news siteRappler. "He will be out of the parish and will spend some time to reflect on this past event. He would like to apologize for what happened."

Pope Francishas yet to comment on the situation, though some on Twitter have suggestedhe'd probably be OK with priests riding hoverboards inlight of the church's efforts to connect with Catholic youth.

Mike Tyson gets knocked out by a hoverboard

The former undisputed world heavyweight champion boxer isn't at the top of his gamewhen it comes to scooter moves, just yet.

Like a good sport, however, Tyson admitted after falling from his daughter's hoverboard that it was probably a bad idea to hop on in the firstplace.

He joins the growing list of parents who now share that same regret.