Will hand sanitizer explode if left in hot car?

Cleveland Whiskey whips up another batch of hand sanitizer for the Cleveland Clinic, March 31, 2020

This March 2020 file photo shows hand sanitizer recently mixed and bottled. (Ceveland.com)John Kuntz, cleveland.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- That small bottle of hand sanitizer you’ve been carrying around may be helping to keep you safe from coronavirus (COVID-19), but could it explode in your car?

That question has been at the center of some debate in recent days, after a Wisconsin fire department posted a photo of a burned-out car alongside a caption that seemed to indicate that hand sanitizer was the primary culprit in the fire.

“By its nature, most hand sanitizer is alcohol-based and therefore flammable,” the Western Lakes Fire District posted on Thursday. “Keeping it in your car during hot weather, exposing it to sun causing magnification of light through the bottle — and particularly being next to open flame while smoking in vehicles or grilling while enjoying this weekend — can lead to disaster.”

As the post began to circulate like wildfire throughout the web, popular fact-checking sites like Snopes began to investigate the claim, finding that while hand sanitizer is flammable, it would take an excessive amount of heat to spontaneously combust -- and was not found to be the cause of any vehicle fires.

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“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,” according to Snopes.

In order to spontaneously combust, a car’s interior would need to reach over 700 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

The Western Lakes Fire District has since walked back its initial post, claiming it was misinterpreted by the general public and never stated a direct link between the photo of the burned-out car and exploding hand sanitizer.

“While we never made the claim that the photo utilized was from our district or from an exploding container of hand sanitizer, it has become clear that that inference and speculation made it seem as though it was,” according to the fire department.

The department said it was simply trying to warn residents that unattended clear bottles can cause car fires in certain situations.

“Our message was intended to center on preventing fire or injury from the use of hand sanitizer. It also regarded the past history of issues stemming from clear bottles being stored in vehicles. These bottles typically store bottled water or as of late; hand sanitizer. 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,” the department wrote.

The Western Lakes Fire District has since apologized for any confusion stemming from the post.

“We simply want our customers to be happy, healthy and well and most importantly enjoy the time they have together with family and friends. Our message quickly became misconstrued and we wanted to assure that we made it right,” the fire department wrote.

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