'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 Flair Airlines CFO charged with involuntary manslaughter linked to fatal car crash in U.S.
Flair Airlines' chief financial officer Sumanth Rao is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with a fatal crash involving an underage driver who had been drinking at his Atlanta-area home.
DEVELOPING Luigi Mangione shouts as he is led into courthouse where he contests extradition to N.Y.
The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO struggled with deputies and shouted Tuesday while arriving for a court appearance in Pennsylvania, a day after he was arrested at a McDonald’s and charged with murder.
National rent prices decline year-over-year to 15-month low: report
A new report says average asking rents fell nationally on a year-over-year basis to $2,139 in November, marking a 15-month low.
Premiers to meet with Trudeau Wednesday about trade and tariffs, Ford says
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the country's premiers are meeting virtually Wednesday with the prime minister to discuss the threat of U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports.
Some added sugar sources are worse than others for disease risk, study suggests
Sugar isn’t helpful when looking to reduce heart disease risk –– but sweet drinks are the worst, according to a study. There are better sweet treats.
Company ordered to refund B.C. Telus customer who accidentally sent it payments
A B.C. Telus customer who mistakenly sent online banking payments to a company with a similar name will get refunded after a small claims decision handed down Monday.
Legal experts sound alarm on Legault's threat to use notwithstanding clause to ban public prayer
Legal experts say the increasing tendency of provincial premiers to use the notwithstanding clause is a worrying trend that disregards the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Drugs, guns, stolen vehicles and inadmissible entries mark busy year at border: CBSA
The Canada Border Services Agency says there’s been an increase in the confiscation of illegal items at border crossings, as well as a jump in inadmissible foreign nationals attempting to enter Canada from the U.S., this year compared to last.
Jamie Foxx reveals he suffered a brain bleed and a stroke, says 'I don’t remember 20 days'
Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx has opened up about the medical emergency he faced last year, revealing that he had a brain bleed that led to a stroke.