Child’s aerosol spray ignites, causing N.C. vehicle explosion

One person was hospitalized with burns after a child sprayed a highly flammable aerosol inside a parked vehicle while an adult was smoking

June 20, 2026 08:00 AM

By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer

LENOIR, N.C. — A child inadvertently blew up a smoker after spraying the adult with a highly flammable aerosol, North Carolina investigators say.

The accident happened around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, inside a Kia Soul parked at the Gamewell Superette on U.S. 64 near Lenior, according to Caldwell Fire, EMS and Police Live.

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“One person hospitalized with burns and a car heavily damaged after firefighters say a flammable aerosol can exploded inside the vehicle,” the website reported in a June 12 Facebook post. “There were two people including a child inside the car at the time. ... The can exploded when a child sprayed it while an adult was smoking in the vehicle.”

The spray was “a duster-type product that contained propane, Isobutane, n-Butane, and Hydrocarbon propellent,” county officials said.

First responders did not say which of the two people in the vehicle was hospitalized.

The Gamewell Superette is about a 75-mile drive northwest from Charlotte.

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