Courtesy: DaimlerChrysler Corporation

Copyright 2002 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

ABC News Transcripts
SHOW: GOOD MORNING AMERICA (07:00 AM ET) - ABC
August 6, 2002 Tuesday

DIANE SAWYER

Coming up, we're, well, she's a very popular face on magazine covers and
fashion runway. Supermodel Veronica Webb, has had to deal with a recent
scare and sadness. Her home was destroyed, her dog died, her husband barely
managed to escape with his life. She says, she's thought she had done
everything for fire prevention, and it turns out it didn't work. And she's
came here to tell us how she's going to prepare from now on, because she
thinks you should do it, too:

VERONICA WEBB THE FIRE THAT ALMOST KILLED HER HUSBAND AND BURNED DOWN THEIR
HOME

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS (Off Camera) Well, we've seen the gorgeous pictures
of supermodel, Veronica Webb, on countless magazines over the years. But,
unfortunately for her and her new husband, her copies of the pictures and
most of her other family pictures have just gone up in flames. Her Key West
home recently was gutted by fire, and she says it was started by an
electrical car that caught on fire while recharging. Uh, as we said, her dog
died, her husband narrowly escaped with his life. And Veronica Webb is with
us now. She's expecting her first child, six and a half months pregnant. And
she's come in because she wants to tell everybody out there, who thinks
they've done everything right, what happened to her.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED) (Off Camera) I want to establish, first of all, you
were in New York shopping for the baby, right? And you get a call from your
husband and he says what?

VERONICA WEBB, SUPERMODEL WHOSE HOUSE BURNED DOWN At two in the morning and
he tells me, you know, Honey, bad news. Um, the house burned down, and the
dog died. And I said, what happened? And he said, you know, I don't really
know yet. And it was at two in the morning. And, uh, that's the most
shocking thing you can hear. Um, you know, 'cause the, the fire department's
still there, and they're still putting out the fire. And, and, you know, I'm
getting the news slowly that, um, you know, if he had been in the house 30
seconds longer, uh, he, he wouldn't have made it. And we're, that . . .

DIANE SAWYER (Voice Over) We're taking a look at these pictures now of your
house.

VERONICA WEBB Yeah. This is our house.

DIANE SAWYER (Voice Over) After the fire, and I notice, for one thing, have
you have a fire alarm up there. So, this is one of the things you said you
did right. And what happened?

VERONICA WEBB Yeah. Well, we thought we knew what we were buying with our
alarm system. And there were, we thought, nine smoke detectors in the house,
not one of them went off. Um, my husband was in the house asleep for almost
two hours with, with the house burning. And when he finally woke up, you
know, he touched the door and it wasn't hot. And when he opened the door,
the room filled with black smoke. He called the dog, couldn't find the dog.
Um, you know, and just had to feel his way out. And the house burned all
night long.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) And, again, as you said, uh, he was apparently
told that 30 seconds and he could have been dead because he had been asleep.
Now, you said the fire had been burning for some two hours. You believe it
was started by a car you have, a global electric motor car, it's a GEM, it's
called. And you say you use it like a cell phone to run errands. But you had
parked it away from the house, again, trying to be careful.

VERONICA WEBB Right. Well, you know, we read the manual. You know, my
husband reads all those things 'cause that's like "Vogue" for him. You know,
he reads it cover to cover. He loves technology. And, you know, we did
everything right. We had, you know, we, it said, keep it well ventilated. We
never put it in the garage. You have to service the batteries. But there's
batteries in that car that aren't represented in the manual. So, you know,
there's, and there's no warning that the car may easily overheat.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) You believe that it overheated while recharging.
And the fire actually caught up in the attic, 'cause you had it parked away
from the house, and got up in the vents and that's why it burned for so
long.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED) (Voice Over) I have to say that Chrysler has issued
a statement saying that this car meets all safety standards. And they do,
have not identified any reports of fires related to it ever before. And they
are sympathetic to you for the loss you've suffered.

graphics: GEM VEHICLES MEET ALL SAFETY STANDARDS ESTABLISHED BY THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT FOR NEIGHBORHOOD ELECTRIC VEHICLES. GEM HAS REVIEWED ITS FILES
AND HAS NOT IDENTIFIED ANY REPORTS OF FIRES RELATED TO THE USE OR CHARGING
OF GEM VEHICLE. WE ARE SYMPATHETIC TO MS. WEBB FOR THE LOSS SHE HAS
SUFFERED.

DIANE SAWYER (Voice Over) But I know that you're here today because, not
because you want to announce lawsuits or anything like that.

graphics: WHILE MUCH SPECULATION HAS BEEN OFFERED ABOUT THE CAUSE OF THE
FIRE, THE LOCAL FIRE MARSHALL HAS NOT ISSUED A REPORT. WE BELIEVE IT IS
INAPPROPRIATE TO ENGAGE IN SPECULATION, PENDING COMPLETION OF ALL
INVESTIGATIONS.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) But because you want everybody out there to learn
what you say you have learned. First thing you wish you had done?

VERONICA WEBB Well, the first thing I wish I had done was, you know, I asked
the fire investigator, I said, how come our alarm system didn't work? How
come none of the smoke detectors worked? And he said, well, you know, these
companies are putting in alarms, that are great for burglary. But they
really don't know that much about fire. They know almost nothing about fire.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) So, your first piece of advice is get somebody
from the outside to come in and double check, somebody independent, to
double check what kind of fire alarm you have, and that it's hooked up
properly?

VERONICA WEBB Yeah. Because if your system isn't protected from fire, you're
not protected from fire.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) And you say the fire department is perfectly
willing to do this?

VERONICA WEBB Yes, yes. They, they will tell you where to put your smoke
detectors. They will tell you where to put heat sensors. And the other
thing, you know, I was really worried about, I said, you know, my, God, you
know, if this was four months later my baby would have been here, and my
baby would have been in the next room. And the fire investigator looked at
me flatly, he said, well, you would have died going in there getting your
baby.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) Because, again, when we see those pictures of the
house. You say, the area that was going to be the nursery was, uh, suffered
some of the greatest damage.

VERONICA WEBB Yeah.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) And the other thing, the second thing you want
everybody at home to do is get an escape plan and practice it, know what it
is.

VERONICA WEBB Yeah, because a lot of people, you know, I've learned lose,
lose their children during fires because they have no plan on how to get
their kids out. And the fire department will come and teach you this stuff.
And, you know, you think you know what you're buying with your alarm. You
really don't. You know, you think you know what you're buying with a lot of
consumer electronics and you really don't. So, I don't know. I mean, my
advice is just a word of caution and don't take anything for granted.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) Well, again, we're so glad your husband is safe.
And so, so glad that the baby will be here in what, November?

VERONICA WEBB November.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) November. Again, two important pieces of advice.
And it's nice to see you, nice to have you here.

VERONICA WEBB Thank you, Diane.

DIANE SAWYER (Off Camera) We'll take a break. And coming up next, the new
reality show everybody's talking about, and everybody watched, Anna Nicole
Smith.

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