Fire brigade warns: ‘Do not keep disinfectant gel in the car on hot days’

Fire hazard

“Disinfectants essentially contain alcohol and are therefore flammable. Storing the disinfectant gel in your car in hot weather can lead to disaster,” according to a post several weeks ago on the Facebook page of the Western Lakes Fire District. Although the fire brigade meant well, readers misunderstood the message. They thought that hand gel can quickly catch fire. The fire brigade subsequently corrected the message.

A lot of damage

“Our goal in the WLFD is to provide timely, accurate, and educational information while responding to the needs of our customers. It’s become clear that a recent post about hand sanitizer was taken in many different directions from our original goal. We want to take the opportunity to clear up some misunderstandings and ensure that our position is understood,” the fire department posted on Facebook.

Prevent fire

“Our message was intended to center on preventing fire or injury from the use of hand sanitizer,” the fire brigade said, and further stated that bottles, including hand-held bottles, can catch fire if they contain water or other transparent liquids, such as hand cleaning products. “While infrequent, there have been cases in the recent past were reflecting light placed through a clear bottle was able to focus onto a combustible surface and cause a fire. This has primarily been through water bottles but since hand sanitizer is often stored in the same vessel, we wanted to pass it along for your safety. The principle is identical and obviously an additional issue would occur if it happened in the presence of an alcohol-based product.”

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Source: Western Lakes Fire District | Image: Facebook Western Lakes Fire District, Unsplash