‘Honestly frightened’: Family terrified after Cocomelon children’s book caught fire under car seat

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Pictures of a child’s car seat, melted and mangled, tell a terrifying story for one Burke County family after investigators say a button battery, made of lithium, inside a Cocomelon children’s book caught fire underneath the car seat.

The mom says it was only a matter of minutes from when she got her one-year-old daughter out of the car and when her daughter’s car seat erupted in flames.

“A neighbor came knocking on my door and said, ‘Hey, your car’s smoking,” said Destiny Williams, who had just returned from church and was making her daughter lunch on Sunday.

Williams ran outside and saw her minivan on fire.

“Just very shocked that could happen,” said Williams.

A family member used a garden hose to knock out the flames.

The family couldn’t believe what firefighters pulled from the rubble underneath the car seat.

“I was honestly frightened,” said Williams’ husband, Pressley Williams.

Fire officials released a picture they pulled from the ashes of the damaged back of a children’s book, the spot where they say a lithium battery in the book overheated, starting the fire.

“It’s just crazy to me to think that would ever happen with a children’s book,” said Destiny Williams.

“I was honestly shocked because I didn’t think a book could do that especially a toddler’s book, and you would think you would have warning labels,” said Pressley Williams.

He tries not to even think about what might have happened to his little girl, Misty, if she had been in that car seat.

“My initial thought is what if it did happen because I would be without a daughter and a wife,” said Pressley Williams.

He and fire officials want parents to know the risks.

“There’s not always going to be warning labels that something has a lithium battery or what type of battery,” said Chief Bobby Craig of the George Hildebran Fire Department.

Misty is too young to understand the danger she escaped, but her dad does.

“I knew Jesus was working and keeping my family safe,” said Pressley Williams.

Misty’s parents say they’d like to see more warning labels not only on children’s books with lithium batteries but also on other toys as well.

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