LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A 17 mph wind gust that lifted a bounce house into power lines took away 9-year-old Lizzy Hammond in 2019, and now her parents are trying to make sure that never happens to another family.
Bounce houses are not regulated in state law. Assembly Bill 198 (AB198) could change that.
“Lizzy’s Law” would require bounce house operators to obtain a business license and carry a minimum of $1 million in insurance. It would require a log book for inspections, and notations each time the device is used. If a hazard or potential hazard is found, use of the bounce house would be prohibited. It also establishes failure to follow regulations constitutes negligence.
Bounce house requirements are already in place in Clark County. This bill would make them statewide.
Wendy Hammond told the family’s story in detail during a bill hearing on Wednesday as friends and family filled the room to support them. Lizzy’s death devastated the Hammonds, who already had “a family rule” about bounce houses after a friend snapped a leg, according to Wendy Hammond.
It happened on Sunday, July 14, 2019, when Wendy and her three children went to a birthday party in south Reno. Just a few kids in the bounce house seemed like it would be safe, so she said OK.
The bounce house was not weighted down and was lifted 10 feet off the ground, according to an Associated Press report at the time. To this day, Wendy believes that the incident would have been prevented if it was weighed down. When the wind hit, an inflatable waterslide also shifted, knocking Wendy to the ground. She described blacking out briefly.
Lizzy and her brother Danny were inside, along with the birthday boy and one other child. The bounce house hit power lines that stopped it from traveling farther, and there was an arc of electricity, Wendy said. One of the children had fallen out, but Wendy and others on the ground had to wait for fire crews to reach the bounce house and for the power to be cut before rescuers could bring the children down.
“The whole time, I could not see or hear Danny or Lizzy,” but the birthday boy was able to shout down to his mom that he was OK, Wendy said.
Mitch was in Virginia, preparing to deploy overseas. By Monday, he was home.
Lizzy was taken to the hospital, where she was declared brain dead two days later, and the family released a statement that Friday saying she had died. Two months later, Wendy got the cause of death. “Her C1 (vertebrae) went into her brain stem. So at some point, we all don’t know what happened in the bounce house.”
Danny was diagnosed with PTSD from the incident. A doctor told his parents he had “an abnormal fear of death” and is terrified of wind.
Bill sponsor Tracy Brown-May, a Democrat, brought statistics citing more than 113,000 emergency room visits involving bounce houses from 2003 to 2013. A University of Texas, El Paso study found 132 documented wind-related incidents from January 2000 to December 2021 resulting in at least 479 injuries and 28 deaths. In the past year, three children have died, Brown-May said.
The bill also prohibits removal of manufacturer’s labels, and outlaws sale of a device with the labels removed. It also requires training for an adult supervisor if the company doesn’t leave someone onsite.
Finally, the bill requires the bounce house to be weighted down — and staked when possible. Use of the bounce house would be prohibited when the wind speed reached a specified limit. Initially, the bill set that at 20 mph, but when lawmakers reviewed the bill, they had other ideas.
“The family shared that the windspeed was at 17mph,” Assemblymember Daniele Monroe-Moreno said. “Moving it to 20 would be problematic for me. I just feel that we risk losing other children at 20 mph. Could a happy medium be the 15 mph?”
Brown-May agreed. An amendment is likely as the bill moves forward.
Wendy Hammond said, “We are asking for this law and we’ve been advocating for it because there’s a need for education for our public. If I’d known that those were just ones to keep it in place, I know Reno gets windy. I would have asked, ‘Where’s the weights?’ I was not the one who signed the contract with the bounce house operator. I don’t know if he advised her. He did not have a business license and he’s faced no charges because there was no law that he broke.”
Mitch Hammond was quiet during the hearing, but as it ended, he said, “I’ll never have my daughter back. It breaks my heart. Please pass this.”
