Parents on alert after another bounce house accident

Chandler - After the latest bounce house accident on Friday in Tucson, children's safety became the talk at neighborhood gatherings like one in Chandler this weekend.

“The bouncy houses in Tucson were like rolling and flying through the air,” said one boy.

Another neighbor thought the whole thing was pretty scary.

“[It's scary] to see your child blow away and not know if they’re hurt or not,” said parent Norma Ramirez.

In the video, you can see a dust devil pick up a bounce castle Friday in a park and wrap it around a light pole. No one was seriously injured in the incident.

“Maybe they weren't properly secured when they blew away,” said Todd Ploeger, who runs Better Alternative Bouncy Things in Phoenix.

Ploeger was the only bounce house owner ABC15 talked to who agreed to discuss safety issues with us.

The Phoenix owner says only he and his employees do all the set-up and tear down.

“We make sure we're staked down in at least a foot in the ground always at an angle so if the wind does come it's in there really solid,” said Ploeger.

On Saturday, he set up two bouncy water slides and ran tests on the stakes to make sure they're secure.

“It's about a foot into the ground,” he said.

He says the weight of the water makes the slide even more secure.

“You're talking 16-hundred pounds holding the slide down also,” he said.

Ploeger said parents are not allowed to tamper with his slides or bounce houses.

“A lot of times some of the parents will make adjustments,” said Ramirez, adding they want to move its location sometimes.

Ploeger said adult supervision is key, and so is renting the toys from a reputable owner.

“There may be some smaller companies out there that maybe don't do all the steps that we larger companies do,” he said. “They may not stake things properly.”

And if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It's best to not risk it when it comes to your children's safety.