Children’s book to blame for fire inside car, North Carolina officials say

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. (AP) — 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.