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Editor's note: Fire experts warn that a plastic bottle containing any liquid -- including, but not limited to, hand sanitizer -- left in a car and exposed to direct sunlight can potentially focus sunlight into a beam hot enough to start a fire. The following article deals specifically with the specific claim that hand sanitizer will spontaneously combust if left in a hot car. In April 2020, a series of photographs started to circulate on WhatsApp and Telegram that supposedly showed the aftermath of a car fire caused by an unattended bottle of hand sanitizer. These posts, many of which were written in Portuguese, urged people to be cautious about leaving hand sanitizer in their cars because, they claimed, it can spontaneously combust. A month or so after these posts went viral in Brazil, a similar rumor started to circulate on English-language pages. In addition to being spread by anonymous social media users, these warnings also made their way onto the pages of a real fire departments. The Western Lakes Fire District of Wisconsin (WLFD) in Wisconsin, for instance, shared the following post to its Facebook page on May 21: Soon after, a number of news outlets picked up on this story and ran articles about how a fire department was warning people not to leave hand sanitizer in their cars. Although WLFD truly did post the above-displayed warning, the department later removed the post for stirring confusion. For starters, the picture has not been officially linked to a fire caused by a bottle of hand sanitizer exploding into flame. A number of experts have also weighed in to say that while hand sanitizer does contain alcohol and is flammable, it would require a tremendous amount of heat for spontaneous combustion. Although this sort of fire may be technically possible (more on that later), we've yet to see any official reports about a car fire starting this way. Lastly, the WLFD did state that a fire could be started via magnification of light through the bottle, but this is true for any plastic bottle and has little to do with its contents. WLFD deleted its original hand sanitizer warning and replaced it with the following message: Judging from the amount of mail Snopes received, many people were still confused about what dangers may lurk in bottles of hand sanitizer. So let's take a closer look at the questions this viral post sparked. Many hand sanitizers contain alcohol, and these alcohol-based hand sanitizers (ABHS) are flammable. The Federal Aviation Administration wrote in a 2010 report: Hand sanitizers also give off vapors, and these vapors are also flammable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) writes: One of the major fears that people had after encountering this rumor on social media was that their hand sanitizer was going to spontaneously combust if left too long in a hot car. We won't say that this is impossible, but we will say that it is extremely unlikely. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), hand sanitizer would have to be exposed to extreme heats (over 700 degrees Fahrenheit) in order to spontaneously combust. Those sort of temperatures just aren't going to be seen inside of a parked car (so long as that car is parked on Earth). A 2018 study published in the journal Temperature found that the average temperature in a parked car on a 95-degree day was about 116 degrees. Specific parts of the car, such as the dashboard, climbed closer to 160 degrees, but that is still far from the 700 degrees needed for spontaneous combustion. The NFPA continued: This claim has more to do with the magnification properties of plastic bottles than it does with the contents of said bottles. In fact, in 2017, a similar warning was circulated on social media that said leaving a water bottle in your car on a hot day could result in a fire. Live Science wrote: Although it is technically possible for a fire to start in this manner, again, it is very unlikely. The sun, the bottle, and a flammable source would all have to be in perfect alignment on a rather hot day to ignite a fire. In June 2020, Illinois' Waukegan Fire Department reported that a small bottle of hand sanitizer had started a car fire. The organization later amended their statement to clarify that the fire was started in the manner described above — a plastic bottle focusing direct sunlight into beam hot enough to start a fire — so its cause was unrelated to the substance in the bottle. The claim that hand sanitizer was causing car fires first gained traction in Brazil in April 2020 via social media posts on WhatsApp. This spurred the country's Corpo de Bombeiros de Campo Grande (Campo Grande Fire Department) to issue a warning about the potential dangers of leaving hand sanitizer in a hot car. However, the fire department admitted that it had yet to see any fires caused in such a manner. Likewise, we have yet to uncover any confirmed reports about hand sanitizer causing a fire while left in a parked car on a hot day. However, many hand sanitizers are still flammable and do pose some risks. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers should not be used near open flames, and people storing large amounts of hand sanitizer should adhere to the National Fire Protection Association's Flammable and Combustible Liquids code. Although keeping a small bottle of hand sanitizer in your car won't result in spontaneous combustion, cautious drivers may want to store their hand sanitizer (and any other liquids kept in plastic bottles) out of direct sunlight in their glove boxes or center consoles.
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