Trending Topics

Battery in children’s book to blame for N.C. vehicle fire

A child’s car seat started to burn when a “button battery” in a children’s book caught fire after being left in the vehicle

North Carolina Car Seat Fire

This photo provided by George Hildebran Fire & Rescue Department shows the scorched car seat after it caught fire inside a vehicle in Burke County, N.C., on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024.

George Hildebran Fire & Rescue Department via AP

Associated Press

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — North Carolina officials determined the cause of a fire inside a car in Burke County was a children’s book.

A child’s car seat was set ablaze when a “button battery” in a children’s book caught fire after being left in the vehicle on Sunday, according to the George Hildebran Fire & Rescue Department. The family had left the car before the fire started, officials said.

Destiny Williams and her daughter, Misty, had come home from church that day and went inside the house, Williams told WSOC. Then, she began to notice smoke from the car.

A neighbor eventually put the fire out with a garden hose, WSOC reported. After the fire was put out, the fire marshal’s office was called to the scene, authorities said.

“My initial thought about it is: ‘What if it did happen?’ Because I would be without a daughter and a wife if it did happen (with them in the car),” the girl’s father Pressley Williams told WBTV.

One of the several books near the scorched car seat was suspected of having a lithium battery, which are susceptible to catching fire if they overheat, according to the Burke County Fire Marshal’s Office.

Trending
The 600-pound bronze that greeted visitors at the Grand Canyon Lodge was found charred with missing parts
Vernon first responders ventilated and cut the tube slide at Northeast Elementary to free a wedged 40-year-old, with EMS providing oxygen in the heat
Benoit, Lafayette’s chief since 1993 and the department’s first Black chief, departs to become Acadian Ambulance’s fire liaison supervisor
A University of Maryland probe reveals 130,000 hazardous-cargo cars rolled past 2.5M residents in six months, yet most local fire departments lack the teams, gear and data to handle a derailment