JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In April, Ben Gatewood and his family escaped their home after they say their BMW caught fire while parked in their garage, forcing them to flee with only the clothes on their backs.
RELATED: BMW X3 believed to have sparked devastating fire removed from JAX hourly garage
The heavy smoke triggered a baby monitor to switch to night vision, capturing the intensity of the blaze.
Ben Gatewood described the heartbreaking scene. “Yeah. I mean, honestly, the saddest thing is seeing, like, the baby bottles,” he said.
Ben, his wife, their baby, and his mother-in-law were living in the home that was largely destroyed by the fire.
He recalled the frantic escape. “We ran out the backyard, and, you know, we had our shirts on our backs. Right. My wife grabbed the baby; dogs ran after us. And her mother is, like, currently fighting for her life against a brain tumor. We didn’t even have time to grab her chemo pills.”
At the center of the fire was Ben’s 2014 428i gas-powered BMW.
Ben described the scene in the garage, saying his car was part of a multi-model recall announced in 2024. Ben said the recall offered no remedy.
“It just said, ‘Hey, there’s a problem. If your car catches on fire while you’re driving, get out of it,’” he explained.
In August, BMW issued a recall for a water pump electrical connector that, in rare cases, could cause a fire. The recall covered models from 2012 to 2018, including several years of the 4 series and some X3 models.
The Jacksonville Aviation Authority said a BMW X3 is believed to have caused the massive fire at the airport’s hourly parking garage, though the model year and recall status remain unknown.
Ben reached out to share his story after the airport fire.
When asked about next steps, Ben said, “So we are reaching—we’ve reached out to BMW ourselves. Our homeowners’ insurance covered it as a total loss. State Farm is our car insurance total loss.”
He said his family is caught between rebuilding their home and caring for his ailing mother-in-law.
“Yeah. I mean, but then when I think about it, like I said, my mother-in-law finding a brain tumor. Building a house like right now is the least of our worries. I almost sometimes feel guilty to be like, ‘Okay, let’s look at floor plans right now.’ It’s like, no, we need to spend time with someone who we don’t know how much time she has left.”
News4JAX has reached out to BMW to ask why the recall that included Ben’s car did not advise owners to park outside, a precaution some recalls include when there is a fire risk. No response has been received yet.
