Trimont, MN– Mikaela Morris from Trimont, Minn. has a message for those looking to buy rechargeable heated clothing to stay warm this winter. She posted on Facebook photos showing her husband Tyler’s severely burned foot and damaged skin after his rechargeable insoles unexpectedly exploded while he was wearing his boots, despite being turned off.
Tyler mentioned that he bought the insoles on Amazon last year for his hunting and fishing activities. The insoles from the Chinese company iHEAT are currently unavailable on Amazon.
Tyler mentioned that when he removed the insoles again this fall for deer hunting season, they weren’t performing as well, but he decided to keep them in his boots for extra comfort.
“I guess I should have taken them out because I was not using them; they were not on,” Tyler said. “They were just in my boots, and all of a sudden the one exploded.”
On Thursday, Dec. 12, Tyler reported that he was getting ready to set up a fish house on the lake when he suddenly experienced a sharp pain in his right foot.
“It just felt like a knife stabbed me in my heel,” he recalled. “Then it started getting super, super hot, and I started freaking out, and there was white smoke just billowing out of my boot.”
Tyler reported that he was able to remove his boot in just five seconds, but by then, half of his sock was already on fire.
“The insole came out in pieces,” he said, adding that he’s thankful he was wearing wool socks and shoes without laces, which likely saved him an even worse injury than the second and third-degree burns he sustained on his right foot.
“This happens apparently all the time,” Tyler said. “In fact, when we got to Hennepin County, the doctor there told us that I was the third person she had seen for this this week.”
Tyler experienced a loss of sensation in certain areas of his foot, and doctors informed him that skin grafts could be necessary. He and Mikaela are advising everyone to thoroughly investigate before purchasing any rechargeable clothing items, particularly those made abroad, or to consider steering clear of such products entirely.
“I would say on any of it,” Mikaela said. “Heated insoles, socks, vests, coats, gloves because not only could it have been his foot, it could have been his hand, it could have been his, if he had socks on, it could have been his whole leg.”