Residents around Wake County are concerned after a North Carolina couple said their car caught on fire because of a children's book earlier in the week.
According to firefighters in Burke County, a children's book titled "J.J"/index.html"s Potty Time" with three alkaline batteries inside a car became overheated and caught on fire. Both parents and the child were unharmed in the fire.
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Investigators said the book was placed between the child safety seat and the van seat.
While emergency responders around Wake County say they haven't seen something like it before, they it can happen.
"There's been some issues with lithium batteries over the past two years or so, so the first thing we're thinking is, 'Well, it's another lithium battery issue,'" said Darrell Alford, Wake County Director of Fire Services and Emergency Management. "Most of those battery issues come from improper storage, or not storing it in the way that the manufacturer would recommend."
"I'm just glad everyone is okay," said Shawn Kirk, who lives near where the fire happened. "It's a blessing that nobody was in the car when it happened."
Firefighters estimated the damages to the inside of the minivan to thousands of dollars. One of the fire lieutenants who responded to the fire said she called her daughter afterwards to see if she had similar books.
"It was a real shock to a lot of us, because several firefighters have young children," Connie Pollard said. "I have grandchildren.
Christina Bennetts, an injury prevention representative for trauma service at WakeMed and the Safe Kids Wake County Coalition coordinator, said she's seen incidents of children choking on similar small batteries, but she's never seen them catching on fire in a car.
"It's just alarming that it could happen in a children's book," Bennetts said. "It's something we need to bring to parent's attention.
WRAL News reached out to Cottage Door Press, who published the book, who gave the following statement on the incident.
"Our electronic children’s books, which have sold millions of units without incident, use alkaline batteries, not lithium ion batteries as reported. We are relieved that no one was injured, and are working closely with local officials and experts to determine the cause of this incident.”
For Bennetts, it's a reminder for parents to keep tabs on their children's toys and to take charge of their safety.
"[Just] checking the items; making sure they're safe ... making sure they're not corroded ... making sure they're not overheated," she said.