Alcohol or hand sanitizer has become a handy item that serves as protection against the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic ever since.
With that, people who regularly go outdoors and travel have equipped themselves with the sanitary product everytime they leave the house. Drivers and riders are no exception to this.
To religiously comply with the health and safety measures against COVID-19, drivers bring along alcohol inside their vehicles. However, there are some instances when they forget about it and leave it in their cars accidentally.
Thus the claims that it can cause the car to catch flames due to the chemicals it is made of, in addition to the hot temperature it is surrounded to.
On Thursday, a Facebook page called Western Lakes Fire District warned the public that leaving hand sanitizers exposed under a scorching weather can trigger its causing magnification through the plastic bottle, leading to flames.
Some netizens have debunked this, stating that they have stored these items inside their cars before and have never encountered such incident.
Which begs the question: Is it true that this COVID-19 staple can make your car go up in flames?
Well, somehow, it can.
National Fire Protection Association’s video confirms that alcohol-based items is indeed flammable. But, only in “large quantities”.
How “large” are they talking about, though? Say, over 5 gallons of alcohol. Yup, that’s the amount of alcohol that can cause the explosion. Otherwise, proper precautionary measures should still be followed.
Moreover, reverse-image searches say that the photo posted has been circulating for around a month by now. A lot of people have already used this. And while we can’t pinpoint where this image really came from, it’s practically safe to say that hand-sanitizer didn’t cause the burnt car door.
