Toy dump truck catches fire on way home from Everett; taken off market

This is how Roxsane Harden describes it.

"Sparks and smoke coming from inside of the box, like fire," she said. "It was hot."

That fire erupted in the bed of their Ford Ranger on I-5 in Smokey Point Friday night.

Roxsane and her husband, Delmond, were on their home from Toys 'R Us in Everett.  They had just bought this 12-volt Tonka mighty wheels dump truck for their grandson.

Incredibly, they realized it was on fire.

"I said, 'We gotta pull over,'" said Roxsane. "'We gotta get out of this truck.' So we pulled over, flames start shooting."

The flames were so intense and so stubborn that even the fire extinguishers the Washington state trooper used couldn't douse them.

"The officer, when he looked on, he said, 'The flames appeared to be 15, 20 feet high,'" said Delmond. "Yeah, it was pretty shocking."

"So they told me to get whatever I needed out of the car, like my purse," said Roxsane.  "So I'm in the back grabbing my purse and stuff and as I'm leaning over, I hear pop. And all this glass shattered in front of me. And then there was smoke and dust inside."

They had to call the fire department to put the fire out.  Their burned truck is all that is left.

Based on this, Toys 'R Us said it won't sell the toy truck to anyone else while it investigates.

"That is the way to go," said Delmond.  "Good for Toys 'R Us. That is perfect, because the biggest shopping day of the year is coming up."

Now that the Hardens are out of the pickup truck they rely on, they plan to contact the company that made the toy to see if they can get any help.

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