Taking “Leaving Your Kid In A Hot Car” To The Next Level

I’m picking up one of my daughters from school. My youngest daughter (age four) and I are waiting, and she’s playing with rocks and puddles. Everything’s normal until the kids start to release.

We are standing there waiting when the guy parked in a spot right in front of the school starts his old Firebird up. For a second, all I can think is, “That’s a beautiful sound,” but then, I realize it doesn’t sound right. I look over, and there is smoke POURING out from under the hood of the car and into the interior.

The driver, realizing his engine is on fire, pops the hood and jumps out of the car. The fire quickly spreads from the carburetor to the rest of the engine bay — I’m guessing grease buildup — and starts filling the car with smoke.

At this point, I realize that his six-year-old daughter is still in the car, fighting with the door handle!

I push my girls to a teacher who is trying to move kids away from the car and run to get the girl out of her dad’s car. Getting to this point takes about thirty to forty-five seconds.

A school maintenance guy brings out a fire extinguisher, and after the fire is put out, the dad makes a few calls and then walks away from the car (about ten minutes from the start).

He finds out that I took his daughter out of the car, and his response is:

Dad: “Oh, I forgot she was in there. I was worried that I’d have to rebuild the car if I didn’t get the fire put out.”

No one was hurt, but I’m still confused and angry. How do you forget that your child is in a burning vehicle? How do you worry more about rebuilding a car than about the harm to your child?