Jessica White-Depriest and her family were driving on Interstate 95 last week on their way home to Hinesville when the 2003 Dodge Caravan they were riding in caught fire in North Carolina.
DePriest, who had been visiting her parents’ home in Dunn, N.C., said she pulled the minivan over when it would not go faster than 20 mph and smoke started billowing from under the hood.  The 24-year-old mother of four called her parents and a wrecker and waited.
North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Alan Humphrey pulled up and asked if the family needed help.
Humphrey said DePriest told him the family was OK, but he decided to wait with them. The trooper said he soon noticed waves of heat rising from the minivan’s engine, followed by flames.
DePriest said she and Humphrey began to remove the four children, Jakob, 2, and 18-month-old triplets Kalob, Rebekah and Raychel, while keeping them calm.
After the pair removed some of the family’s belongings from the van, the gas tank exploded, turning the vehicle and the family’s remaining belongings into charred remains. No one was injured.
The children’s father is deployed to Iraq.