18-year-old woman skillfully survives fiery car ordeal on Route 101: 'Happy to be alive'

STRATHAM — The daughter of a former Portsmouth mayor had a close call on the highway Tuesday morning when her car caught fire and her brakes stopped working.

Maggie Marchand, 18, was driving her 2013 Subaru Impreza on Route 101 when she said a loud bang exploded from under the hood of her car. She said the vehicle began to smoke, and her brake pedal dropped all the way to the floor.

For a half a mile, Marchand swerved her car to decelerate before driving down the Exit 11 ramp into Stratham. She then pulled onto the grass, where the car finally stopped, and she escaped before it became fully engulfed in flames.

“I’m just happy to be alive,” Marchand said.

Marchand was driving from her home in North Hampton to a bartending class in Nashua at 7:45 a.m. when she got on the highway at Exit 12. The loud bang under the hood came shortly after getting on the highway.

Marchand has had her license since she was 16 and remembered what her driver’s education instructor told her about swerving to decelerate. With her car unable to stop, she began moving side to side across two lanes, as well as the breakdown lane.

She said there were a few close calls between herself and other cars as she struggled to control the vehicle and nearly side-swiped them. She said her only focus was avoiding a deadly collision.

“In my head, I’m saying bye to everyone I love,” Marchand recalled. “I was so scared I was going to hurt someone.”

Marchand felt hopeful when she saw a sign indicating Exit 11 was only half a mile away. By then, she said the car’s smoke was worsening and entering the interior.

When she turned down the exit ramp, her car was still moving fast enough to cause concern that she might hit the vehicle ahead of her that was stopped at a red light. That’s when she pulled onto the grass and the car finally came to a stop.

Her next move was to escape the vehicle.

“The car is on fire. Definitely on fire,” Marchand said. She said she opened the door, rolled out, and felt a piece of the window fall onto her knee, causing a minor burn.

When she exited the vehicle, she turned to see flames grow and consume the entire front end. Two women stopped to help her, and they went across the street to CVS to call 911.

Marchand is the daughter of one-time Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand, who also mounted a campaign for governor twice. Marchand said on Facebook he was proud of his daughter’s driving skills and grateful for her safety.

“I cannot be more impressed with her driving ability under pressure, and her poise in a life-threatening situation that could easily have injured or killed Maggie - and others around her,” Steve Marchand said. “We are extraordinarily grateful and lucky that Maggie is OK.”

Maggie Marchand, who is studying criminology at the University of Ottawa, said she is still a little shaken by what happened. She said she does not know what caused the explosion, but is grateful she remembered what her instructor taught her.

“That car is totaled,” she said. “I’m alive.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: 18-year-old woman skillfully survives fiery car ordeal on Route 101