MILLBURY, Mass. — A family’s car burst into flames just as their 17-year-old son was trying to drive himself to school Wednesday in Millbury.
“He drove up the driveway to just about where that black is, and he saw some smoke coming out of the dash, and he jumped out, and he saved his golf clubs, he made sure to tell me he saved his golf clubs, put those down, ran and told my wife, she woke me up,” said Matthew La Plante.
La Plante says that within minutes, they saw their car engulfed in flames.
They’re thankful that their son got out of there quickly.
“Tires were popping, airbags were blowing, we just stood back and watched,” said La Plante.
He says his son Hunter ran to grab a fire extinguisher to try to put some of the fire out, but it was too late.
Luckily, his son parked the car a good distance from their house when he first saw the smoke.
“If it was in the garage, if he had panicked and seen smoke when he was in the house, we would have lost everything. Based on when you see the pictures, it’s just, it went up fast, and once it went, the heat, you had to stand far away, it was really, really hot,” said La Plante. “For a senior in high school, his age, just extremely proud we just can’t believe how calm he was.”
Eventually, firefighters arrived to put the fire out, but the car was a total loss.
La Plante says it wasn’t easy to watch it burn with all the memories, like taking his kids to soccer, but he’s just glad his son wasn’t hurt.
“He took it well and, he looked at me and he goes, well it was a good send off haha,” said La Plante. “I said absolutely, we let her go, it was a part of the family.”
La Plante says they’re not sure what exactly caused the fire but they believe mice may have gotten in there.
They had the car for about 12 years.
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