Children’s book sparks fire inside Burke County minivan, investigators say

HILDEBRAN, N.C. — Firefighters in Burke County say a children’s book was the source of a fire that started inside a mother’s minivan. Investigators believe a lithium battery in that book overheated, burning a child’s safety seat.

Channel 9′s Dave Faherty learned that the child, a little girl, was not hurt.

“This is crazy but thank God for protecting her,” said her mother Destiny Williams.

Destiny and her daughter, Misty, had returned home from church Sunday and were inside their home for about 20 minutes when a neighbor noticed the smoke. A family member grabbed a garden hose and was able to get the fire out.

Destiny’s husband, Pressley Williams, rushed home from work.

Chief Bobby Craig at the George Hildebran Fire and Rescue showed Faherty what was left of the child safety seat after it caught fire.

The book they say caused the fire had a button to make noises and is battery-operated.

“The world itself is moving to lithium batteries, which propose some of these troubles to the fire service,” Chief Craig said. “I don’t know if there is — other than trying to keep them cool — that there is any precautions.”

Investigators said a book was placed between the child safety seat and the van seat. The fire marshal in Hildebran believes the small lithium battery possibly overheated and started the fire. However, they don’t know for sure which book is responsible because the damage was so bad. Firefighters said there were several books near the car seat.

“When the fire marshal came and confirmed it was from a lithium battery from a child’s book, I was honestly shocked and surprised,” Pressley Williams said.

“Very shocked that that could happen but also so blessed that [our daughter] wasn’t in there,” Destiny Williams said.

Shawn Kirk lives just down the street with his three children and says the fire is a warning to parents and others.

“No one actually thinks about stuff like that,” he said. “It was a terrible thing. I’m just glad everybody was OK. It’s a blessing no one was in the car when it happened.”

Firefighters estimate the interior of the minivan suffered thousands of dollars in damages.

Lt. Connie Pollard was one of the fire lieutenants who responded to the fire. She said afterward, she called her daughter, who has similar books.

“It was a real shock to a lot of us because several of the firefighters have young children,” Lt. Pollard said. “I have grandchildren, and immediately after leaving the scene, I did a multi-text and phone call to my children.”

The family said they hope others learn from what happened to them.

“We’ve had multiple push-button books for toddlers and no warning labels. It just tells you how to discard it, how to change the battery,” Pressley Williams said.

Faherty reached out to the company that made one of the books in the van, Cottage Door Press. They said their books use alkaline batteries, not lithium.

“Our electronic children’s books, which have sold millions of units without incident, use alkaline batteries, not lithium-ion batteries,” the statement reads. “We are relieved that no one was injured and are working closely with local officials and experts to determine the cause of this incident.”

The fire department is keeping the safety seat for training purposes.

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