ATLANTA — A pregnant woman is recounting the moment her car caught fire on the side of a highway.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
We first brought you this story as breaking news Friday on Channel 2 Action News at 6 p.m.
That’s when we showed you video of a car burning up along Highway 400 in Buckhead.
⚠️Buckhead: Car fire on GA-400/nb just north of I-85 blocking the right lanes. Delays growing on I-85/nb back toward Midtown. #ATLtraffic pic.twitter.com/xK1TvSH2kk
— Triple Team Traffic (@WSBTraffic) August 7, 2026
Now the driver, 19-year-old Ceniah Johnson, is explaining how her car was fine until warning lights started flashing and then heavy smoke suddenly appeared.
“It started off with just a bunch of smoke and then the fire came,” Johnson told Channel 2’s Tom Jones.
Johnson says fire that started shooting from the 2022 Jeep Compass as she drove on Georgia 400 near I-85 headed northbound.
The 5 months pregnant Clark Atlanta University student knew she and her passengers had to get out quickly.
“Cause I’m thinking what if it blows up,” said Johnson.
The incident left traffic backed up.
Ceniah says she, her boyfriend and his 15-year-old sister were frantic.
“It was extremely frightening,” said Johnson. “I feel like I was more in shock than scared though.”
The three had been back to school shopping. They had also shopped for Johnson’s gender reveal party.
Johnson said emergency lights suddenly came on in the car. The car slowed down and the brakes started to fail.
“The front of the car was engulfed in smoke,” Johnson said. “And then the flames came.”
She says her boyfriend yelled for everyone to get out. That’s when she says drivers passing by began providing comic relief.
“Screaming that I’m not supposed to park there so they think it’s a joke,” she said.
Not everyone offered jokes. Johnson said one woman offered help, letting them sit in her car until help arrived. Johnson says she was like an angel.
Johnson says the car had been in the shop for a coolant issue, but she had no problems until this.
She says she lost everything in the fire. And as a struggling college student she says it’s going to be hard to replace.
She’s asking people who’d like to help to click https://gofund.me/4af9b0a8d to contribute to a GoFundMe account that’s set up.
TRENDING STORIES:
- US citizen detained by ICE at Atlanta Airport as he boarded flight
- Dangerous street takeover turns I-285 into racetrack
- Drivers killed, charged identified in crash that shut down I-85 for hours
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2026 Cox Media Group
