SHOW LOW, AZ - A woman is thankful for her "mommy intuition" after waking up in the middle of the night to find her Show Low home filled with smoke. The horrific incident was made even worse when she discovered that it was coming for her 6-month-old son's crib. The source? Ironically a teddy bear that was supposed to be calming.
The toy was a gift from Jessica Deal's mother-in-law.
"She bought it for him hoping that it would kind of calm him down and help him relax," Deal explained.
Her son, Raiden, has Respiratory Syncytial Virus. The toy is an aromatherapy "Evri Cuddle Buddy Bear." It has a microwaveable warming heart and was supposed to help soothe with a lavender scent while he got better.
"We put it in [the microwave] and at 29 seconds, he [Deal's husband] stopped it," Deal explained. "So, that way the beep from the microwave wouldn't wake up our two other kids."
Jessica and her husband, Royal Deal, gave it to Raiden last night. But, that is not out of the ordinary. Deal said, they have done it every night for the last two weeks.
"At about 2 in the morning, I could smell fire," Deal said.
But, the fire also smelled of chemicals and lavender. Deal was terrified when she saw the source was her son's crib.
"It had full embers; burning red embers," Deal described. "And it had burnt through this crib-shoot, through the crib-protector and onto the mattress."
Raiden was amazingly unharmed. Deal said, for some reason her husband happened to place that bear near his son's feet instead of in his arms.
But, Deal immediately took the toy back to the store. She happened to buy it at Walmart in Show Low. They helped her file a claim, which will now be sent to the manufacture.
She is hoping it will get pulled off the shelves, but until then she wants other families to be aware.
"You can't really stay up all night watching and making sure that these toys that you trust are OK," Deal said. "It's all up to the manufacturer now."
