Chris Hawkins’ 9-year-old son smelled burning plastic somewhere in the house.
“It kind of hit you in the face” as soon as you walked in the garage, Hawkins said of “the intense and pungent burning plastic smell.”
That smell in his Chesterfield, Missouri, garage turned to smoke, and within minutes – after firefighters arrived on the scene – the family’s 2018 Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid electric van, which was off and plugged in while charging, would be on fire.
The Nov. 5 blaze totaled the vehicle and caused extensive damage to their garage. There were no injuries, but fire officials told the family they were fortunate to have called 911 as soon as they saw smoke, which led to firefighters being on scene to hose the van down when the first of three fireballs burst out of the vehicle.
This was less than two months after Chris and Ellie Hawkins had the vehicle serviced for a recall linked to a risk of fire.
