LONGWOOD, Fla. – A Central Florida family has hired the Nation law firm to fight for compensation for the loss of a 2012 Ford-F-150 that suddenly caught fire in the family's driveway in January. Patrick and Kim Perkins of Seminole County say their truck was still under warranty when the 4x4 vehicle started oozing smoke out of the front vents.
Patrick said he turned the key to start the defroster and warm up the truck for his daughter as he was getting ready to take her to school. Once he started the engine, he said, in a matter of minutes, it was cooked.
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Ten-year old McKenzie Perkins said she remembers smelling smoke as she sat in the passenger's seat.
"The smoke was slow, but the fire, once I pulled my backpack out, was fast," she said.
McKenzie jumped out and told her mother to call 911. Seminole County fire dispatch told the family to get everyone out of the house. Kim Perkins, her two sons and the family dog ran to the backyard. She said the truck had been trouble free until that morning.
"My concern is what if they had gotten to school, what if they were sitting in the car line," Kim said.
Longwood attorney Mark Nation said he has not found a pattern of fires linked to the 2010-2014 Ford F-150s.
"Right now we don't know exactly what the cause is," Nation said. "We have a fire investigator, we have an electrical engineer and we're putting Ford on notice so that we can all inspect the truck at the same time."
According to Nation, the truck has been wrapped and moved to a location outside of Lakeland.
There was a nearly identical case involving the same year and model Ford truck in Pennsylvania.
Brian Szalbofka, 38, said he just walked into the Wawa store in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, when his truck started burning. It happened Jan. 2, 2014, the same month and year as the Perkins' truck fire.
Szalbofka said he only lives 5 miles from the store. The 2012 model had 19,000 miles on it. The fire marshal on the scene that day said the "only thing investigators know for sure is that it was not intentionally set."