Mother Escapes Burning Car With Two Young Sons Moments Before It Explodes

A woman narrowly escaped a car explosion with her two sons. The mother, Mellisa Grant, had to watch her car go up in flames after making it out of the vehicle with her boys with only moments to spare.

Grant, 27, was driving in her Vauxhall Corsa down a street in Brownhills, Walsall in England when the incident took place Friday. Her little boys, Braidan, 3, and Bradley, 1, were sitting in the back seats of the car as they drove around to pick up a few things, according to Birmingham Live.

“I live just off the road it caught fire, we were traveling only down the road to Sainsbury's to pick up some decorations and some things I ordered from Argos that day,” the mother said.

While in the vehicle, the mother turned the heating on to demist the car before noticing a fire in the passenger footwell. Wasting no time, the mother sprung into action and threw Braidan away from the car before shifting her focus to Bradley.

“I managed to get Braidan out of his car seat, but I couldn’t get Bradley out of his car seat, the car was engulfed in flames so I threw Braidan away from us because I wasn’t going [sic] to leave Bradley and I’ll die trying to save my baby and the car was going to explode any second,” the mother wrote on Facebook after the incident. “I managed to pull him out. Not caring at this point if I broke his arm because I pulled him so hard,” she continued.

Grant got her children out of the car just in time and ran to the nearest house screaming for help.

“The car then exploded behind us as I was screaming,” the mother said.

The family in the house took the children in while Grant informed authorities.

“I can’t get that image out of my head the moment I was driving and I turned my head and saw the passenger side on fire. And the moment I threw Braidan away from the car because I thought me and Bradley was going to die,” Grant wrote in her social media post.

The West Midlands Fire Service arrived at the scene and found the car on fire at around 6:19 p.m., a spokesperson said, according to Birmingham Live.

“Firefighters from Aldridge Station attended and found a car on fire with the driver safely out of the vehicle after the assistance of a passer-by,” the spokesperson said. “Crews used breathing apparatus and a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire and provided oxygen therapy to the driver at the scene who was understandably shaken up by the incident," he added.

Grant said she and her older son are still reeling from the effects of the explosion days after the incident.

“Bradley doesn't seem to know what happened, but my eldest Braidan keeps saying, 'Mommy car on fire Braidan and Bradley so scared,' and then he keeps waking up in the middle of the night coming in our room saying, 'Mommy car on fire,’” the mother said.

"I keep having flashbacks when I close my eyes so I can’t really sleep,” she added.