‘I truly loved this truck’: Jason Kander’s Ford F-150 erupts in flame outside KC home
Even now, Jason Kander has no idea how or why it happened.
Around 9 a.m. Thursday, Kander, a veteran, former Democratic politician and author who from 2013 to 2017 served as Missouri’s secretary of state, climbed into the 2018 Ford F-150 Raptor truck that he purchased only three months ago.
“I don’t know what happened,” Kander told The Star. “I got in the truck and turned it on, and smoke started coming through the vent.”
He turned off the truck outside his Kansas City home, but saw what he thought were flames rising up from the engine.
“I ran inside, got the fire extinguisher, tried to put the fire out.”
That didn’t do it. The result was a truck engulfed in flame, the arrival of the fire department, an arresting photo posted to Instagram by Kander’s spouse, Diana, and calls from friends asking if Kander was OK. He is, although sad.
“I am not a guy who is really into things, material things,” Kander said. “But this — my son and I truly, deeply loved this truck. It was a big deal that we got it. It’s the nicest material thing I’ve ever chosen. I took really good care of it.”
For those wondering, Kander doesn’t think the cause was anything political or nefarious.
Lack of oil?
“I mean, there was no. . . I take really good care of it.”
Thankfully, he said, nothing was in the truck that can’t be replaced. As for the truck?
“It’s charred and in my driveway right now.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM.
