Toddler Had No Clue What Was Coming When He Put His Feet Up, Too Late Now
By Dreamer
Settling in for the ride home, a toddler in Texas got comfortable in the backseat, putting his feet up without realizing what he was doing in the process. Not seeing what was coming, he and his parents found out after it was too late. Now, his mother is warning others of the simple thing that caused it.
After their 2 1/2-year-old son had gotten comfortable in the car, Attila Virag and his wife Jovan noticed a strange smell coming from the backseat after arriving home in Katy, Texas. Upon closer look, there was a hole through the floor, near where their little boy had sat, and their car was on fire from the inside. By the time they caught it, the front passenger seat was melted and the smell of burning plastic was overwhelming, along with black smoke everywhere.
Jovan Virag (left), Jovan’s toddler son (right)
Harris County Fire Marshals couldn’t immediately tell why the car, which was in good repair, seemingly combusted spontaneously. Looking through the charred remains, they only found some clothes and the boy’s pair of shoes inside. That’s when it hit them.
The toddler had removed his Jake and the Neverland Pirates light-up shoes to get comfortable and left them on the floor, which his parents and investigators now believe is what caused the fire, since that’s where the hole burned through. Half of one of the shoes was burned away and all that remained was some sizzling wires from it and a scorched lithium battery, 9News reported.
All that’s left of the boy’s shoes and the family’s car
“I don’t know there’s a battery in there that could be flammable if it’s shorted,” Attila told the news station, about the $25 pair of shoes that the couple bought from Payless. Although the fire department is still working to determine if the flashy sneakers were in fact the culprit, so far, all evidence points to the shoes as the cause.
Knowing how many little kids love the light-up shoes, the Virags are warning other parents to beware of the fire danger. Jovan is just happy that her little one wasn’t wearing them when they caught fire, since he’s so young that she’s not sure if he would have been able to communicate that his feet were hot until they were full-on burning.
Perhaps this is a case where you get what you pay for, and since this was an inexpensive pair of shoes with cheap electrical components, they likely weren’t made with the highest amount of attention to detail. Since many parents find this type of footwear an annoying distraction anyway, the presumed danger is another reason to avoid them all together.
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