MaryAnne Hansen is thankful no one was hurt after her brand new Hyundai Santa Fe burst into flames in her clients driveway on Piccadilly Crescent in Wallaceburg.
However, as she continues to deal with the shock and aftermath of the April 2nd event, she is still left wondering: what exactly caused the fire?
Hansen told the Sydenham Current her faith played a role throughout the entire ordeal.
The vehicle was picked up on Monday, driven briefly on Tuesday and sat in their driveway on Wednesday. Hansen said on Thursday morning (April 2) she was stopping at the United Church in Wallaceburg to drop off a gift before heading over to Mount Pleasant. She left her house at 7:20 a.m.
“I got to the stop sign to turn back onto Elgin, when I saw this big truck,” she said.
Hansen said she recognized the name on the truck – Doug Coleman – and remembered she had seen it many times near her clients house, as he lives on the same street.
“I heard in my heart, turn right here, which is the street passed the day care and the arena. What I heard was, don’t follow him, because if you do… you will be to work late. I have no idea if what I’m hearing is the Lord taking me where I’m suppose to go. I questioned it because I’m not going to go any faster, I can’t speed, I have to stop at every stop sign anyway. I just did, now I’m coming up to Nelson Street, go over the Running Creek bridge, turn left (into Mount Pleasent), turn right, follow the bend and then turn into Piccadilly Crescent.”
Hansen said she pulled into her clients driveway, and did not see the Coleman truck in the neighbourhood.
“When I stopped and pushed the button to shut it off, I thought well that is funny, my leather smells funny. Not thinking anything of it, but I thought my leather doesn’t smell like it did when I got in. So I get out, put my purse over my shoulder, and grab my pail with the stuff I use to go in and clean. When I stepped back to shut the door, I locked the vehicle and I smelled smoke. My head went up in the air and I thought what is somebody doing burning something at 7:30 a.m.”
Hansen said she walked into the house, set her things down and started her cleaning duties.
“This was very quick, this only took about three minutes. When I got back in the kitchen, the door bell is ringing and ringing… just the ladies face, I’ll never forget it. She was just yelling ‘call 911, your car is on fire.’ All I said was I knew I smelled something. I ran to the phone called 911.”
Hansen said the next few moments are a bit of a blur, and appeared to go in slow motion.
“All I could hear were the noises… bang, pop, bang. When it was all over, the police asked me some questions, the firemen asked me some questions… and my car is there melted to their driveway.”
Hansen said she called her loved one’s after the incident
“I think my husband thought it was an April Fool’s joke,” she said. “Nobody would believe that we only had the vehicle for a few days. I would have never thought this would happen even still until this day.”
The incident has left her “traumatized.
“I’m in shock. I’m still going through the process of trying to manage that I will be safe in my vehicle when I do get a vehicle back,” she said.
Hansen and her husband purchased the vehicle at Glen Fenwick Hyundai in Sarnia.
She said the deal to buy this particular vehicle went a lot quicker than usual.
“We just went to pick out a colour and before you know it, we were signing papers and we bought it. It is really not the way we usually go about things. We usually take the weekend to think it over.”
Hansen said when they picked up the vehicle on Monday, March 30, they had their eight-year-old grand daughter with them.
“This could have happened anytime. She could have been sitting it that vehicle. It could have happened another day, but thank God it didn’t.”
Hansen added: “We’re not trying to bad mouth the company or the dealership. We’ve trusted them through three cars. We don’t know why this happened. People are saying it is one in a million… but are asking why you? My husband and I both got a revelation. My husband has to see it to believe it, things have to be black and white. Me, I go on faith. Faith is not seeing, but believing. I’ve done it my whole life as a young child. It keeps me protected from the good and the bad.”
Hansen said her husband believes God opened up the door for them to buy the vehicle.
“My husband got an epiphany and he believes with his whole heart. He said he knew that God could trust me that I would hear his voice, to turn at the corners like he said. If we wouldn’t have bought that vehicle, somebody else might have owned that vehicle and they might have died in that vehicle. I heard His voice and I hear His voice. It’s not a voice that says hello or good-bye, it’s in the heart it’s in the mind. It may sound crazy, but my husband and I believe that.”
After some time and waiting, Hansen said the dealership has been cooperative throughout the process.
They are set to meet with a representative from Hyundai on Wednesday, April 15.
“Glen Fenwick told me he hasn’t heard in 15-20 years all his time in business of Hyundai having this problem. So this is one of the first. So it’s a new experience, he didn’t know where it has come from. Hopefully on Wednesday we can start to get some answers. He’s going to clean up the mess at my clients home too.”
Watch for more on this story.
Here are some more pictures of the car fire aftermath:
She talks about how she could smell the leather burning and could smell smoke but clearly it started in the engine bay, the front seats are merely scorched.