ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Inflatable structures like bouncy castles and moonwalks are standard fare at children’s birthday parties and summer carnivals. Although they’re so much fun, they can also be dangerous in windy conditions – as several families learned the hard way this year.
Shock and chaos ensued as families at a company picnic in Alabama sought shelter last Saturday after strong winds during a severe thunderstorm swept away an inflatable slide.
“I’ve never seen a bouncy castle take off like that,” said witness Joshua Cofield. “It was just a crazy, crazy accident. I was shocked. I wasn’t expecting it because I couldn’t see the bouncy castle from where I was standing, but when it came into the picture, it blew my mind.”
Cofield and other witnesses said the two inflatable boats that were overturned by the storm were each secured to the bottom with four to six pegs, but even that was not enough.
Experts from the safety group Weather to Bounce recommend that all inflatable play equipment be firmly anchored to the ground with stakes and weighed down with sandbags.
Saturday’s incident is just one of many weather-related incidents involving large inflatable objects that can cause serious injury and even death.
In April, a bouncy castle incident in Casa Grande, Arizona, left a two-year-old child dead and another child injured when the bouncy castle was blown away by the wind and landed on a neighbor’s property.
Also in April, a family from Victorville, California, experienced stormy weather that created frightening scenes. Video showed a dust devil forming in their backyard and launching a bouncy house high into the air while children were playing in the pool.
“It was very dangerous,” said homeowner Yvonne Iribe.
A study by the University of Georgia found that wind-related bouncy castle accidents injured at least 479 people and killed 28 worldwide between 2000 and 2021, with that number only rising since then.
Wendy and Mitch Hammond spoke about a horrific incident that happened to them in July 2019 after their children Lizzy, Danny and Abby were invited to a birthday party in Reno, Nevada. The festivities included an inflatable bounce house and a slide.
A sudden gust of wind lifted both bouncy castles into the air – Lizzy, Danny and the birthday boy were trapped inside the bouncy castle.
“It flew over me and when I got up I turned around and saw the bouncy castle hanging up in the power lines,” said Wendy Hammond.
She remembered the family trying to take down the bouncy castle.
“It was out of reach. The rescue crews were coming there. And they had a ladder that was too short on their fire truck,” she said. “So we all had to wait. While you’re up in the bouncy house screaming and trying to figure out which kid you can hear.”
Rescue workers reached the children and the boys were treated for minor injuries. However, 9-year-old Lizzy did not survive.
“It was blunt trauma to the spine,” Mitch Hammond said. “And at that point we decided to put her on life support and try to harvest as much as we could to help other children.”
A few days later, family and friends honored Lizzy’s life with an emotional honor march through the hospital.
The Hammonds now run the Lizzy Hammond Foundation to raise awareness and advocate for legal change. What gives them peace is knowing that their deceased daughter’s organs gave life to others.
“I want her legacy to be that she saved three children, you know?” Mitch Hammond said. “So she was a giver until the end.”
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