‘It was up in the air.’ Wind flips bounce house while kids were inside, Okla. dad says

Three children were in a bounce house when a “particularly strong gust of wind” picked it up off the ground Saturday morning, the Muskogee Public Library wrote on Facebook.

A dad of one of those children saw the wind take the bounce house with his daughter inside, KOKI reported.

“It was up in the air, it was flipping over, and there was a group of people — about 15 of them — that it landed on initially, and then it kept on flipping over,” father Anthony Salcido said, according to KOKI. “I got a glimpse of my daughter in it on one of the flips and she was terrified.”

Fortunately, first responders with several departments were already on site at the library’s “Touch-A-Truck” fundraiser, held at the Muskogee-Davis Regional Airport.

“We are so grateful that Muskogee County EMS, Muskogee Fire Department, Brushy Mountain Fire Department, Oktaha Fire Department, and Air Evac were on site for our event and all rushed over to make sure everyone was okay,” the library posted to Facebook.

The three kids who were inside the bounce house during the incident “were shaken up and sustained some minor injuries,” according to the library’s post.

After witnessing the bounce house take off with his child inside, Salcido says he has advice for other parents: “Don’t let your kids get on a bounce house on a windy day — ever,” he said, according to KOKI.

Last year, a strong gust of wind caused a bounce pad to become loose at a Nebraska pumpkin patch while kids were jumping on it, McClatchy reported. A 2-year-old boy who was trapped in the bounce pillow as it flew died from his injuries, the Lincoln Journal-Star reported.

Last spring, in California, strong winds blew a bounce house onto the highway, McClatchy reported. A 9-year-old was inside and suffered minor injuries.