'All of a sudden I started smelling smoke': Woman recounts escaping from burning vehicle on Hwy. 401
A 32-year-old Hamilton woman says she is lucky to be alive after her car randomly caught fire while she was driving on Highway 401 last weekend.
Jamie Lee Kerri-Mitchell said that she had no idea there was anything amiss in the minutes before her vehicle went up in flames on the highway near Hamilton at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Video footage obtained by CTV News Toronto shows flames billowing from Kerri-Mitchell’s 2017 Hyundai Elantra moments after she escaped, with the help of an off-duty police officer and their wife.
“Everything was fine and I had just come off the off-ramp but then… I heard someone honk at me,” she recalled in an interview with CTV News Toronto on Monday.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
The mother of three said she initially thought they honked because she was driving too slowly and she proceeded to move over to the slow lane.
“All of a sudden I started smelling smoke,” she said. “My car within seconds just filled with black smoke and then I started feeling dizzy and my throat starting hurting.”
At that point, she said, she realized something was very wrong and proceeded to put on her four-ways and pull over to the shoulder of the road.
“(I) just remember sitting there for a second being like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s happening?’”
“I was like in a state of shock. I didn’t know should I run? Should I stay? Is it big? Everything was just like going at once and then everything went blank.”
At one point, she said she began to feel heat underneath her feet.
“I did not expect the car to already be on fire,” she said, adding that she then noticed woman and a man, who she later learned was an off-duty police officer, running toward her vehicle.
“I didn’t want to go through the driver’s side because there were so many vehicles that were going high speeds so I thought I’d get out of the passenger’s (side).”
She said just as she was stumbling out of the passenger’s side door, the off-duty officer and his wife had arrived to help.
“I looked down and the whole bottom of my car is on fire… They grab me and they start running back,” Kerri-Mitchell said.
Within 30 seconds the car was fully engulfed in flames, she said.
“You could see the tires exploding, the battery exploding,” she said. “The car was just a crisp. There was nothing left.”
After speaking to witnesses, Kerri-Mitchell said she later learned that her car was on fire while she was on the ramp.
“The car underneath was on fire dripping plastic and that is why people I guess were honking, trying to warn me,” she said. “But I had no sign. I had no idea. I didn’t see smoke. My car was driving fine.”
She said she is grateful to those who tried to alert her to the fire, particularly the off-duty officer and his wife, who also had children in their car at the time of the incident.
“I want to thank them for coming and saving me and trying to warn me,” she said tearfully.
“If I would have been in there… I wouldn’t have made it and my kids would not have a mom.”
With files from CTV News Toronto’s Sean Leathong
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Earthquake strikes off California; tsunami warning issued
The U.S. National Weather Service has issued a tsunami warning for parts of California and Oregon after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the U.S. Pacific coast on Thursday.
LIVE UPDATES Health insurance CEO's wife says threats received prior to fatal shooting
The masked gunman who stalked and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson used ammunition emblazoned with the words 'deny,' 'defend' and 'depose,' a law enforcement official said Thursday. Here's the latest.
Man wanted for military desertion turns himself in at Canada-U.S. border
A man wanted for deserting the U.S. military 16 years ago was arrested at the border in Buffalo, N.Y. earlier this week.
'At the dawn of a third nuclear age,' senior U.K. commander warns
The head of Britain’s armed forces has warned that the world stands at the cusp of a 'third nuclear age,' defined by multiple simultaneous challenges and weakened safeguards that kept previous threats in check.
BREAKING B.C. officials monitoring tsunami threat after 7.0M earthquake off California
Emergency management officials in British Columbia say they are monitoring for any potential tsunami threats after a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off California on Thursday morning.
AI modelling predicts these foods will be hit hardest by inflation next year
The new year won’t bring a resolution to rising food costs, according to a new report that predicts prices to rise as much as five per cent in 2025.
Alleged Alberta Bitcoin extortionist, arsonist arrested
Authorities have arrested Finbar Hughes, a man wanted in connection with alleged plots in Calgary and Edmonton that threatened to burn victims' homes if they did not pay him Bitcoin ransoms.
Pete Davidson, Jason Sudeikis and other former 'SNL' cast members reveal how little they got paid
Live from New York, it’s revelations about paydays on 'Saturday Night Live.'
Congo government says it's 'on alert' over mystery flu-like disease that killed dozens
Congo’s health minister said Thursday the government is on alert over a mystery flu-like disease that in recent weeks killed dozens of people.