Off The Record
Fire Officials Warn: Do Not Leave Bottled Water In Your Car
In many regions of the country, August is the warmest month of the year, so it’s important to stay hydrated by drinking water.
Although it may appear alluring, one of the worst locations to store bottled water is in your car since it can start fire. Don’t believe me? Just keep reading…
That’s precisely what happened to Dioni Amuchastegui, an Idaho Power battery technician, in July 2017, when he was on his lunch break and noticed smoke coming from under his truck’s center console.
“At first, I thought it was dust, but the window was rolled up, so there was no wind,” he stated today. “Then I noticed that light was being refracted through a water bottle, and it was actually smoke.”
Though the fire only managed to burn two small holes in the front seat of his pickup, he managed to transfer the bottle before it could cause any harm.
Amuchastegui made the decision to carefully replicate the combustion with his Idaho Power team, and on July 13, he posted the resulting video on the company’s Facebook page.
“It’s not something you really expect, having a water bottle catch your chair on fire,” Amuchastegui said of the unlikely scenario. “I actually had to do a double take the first time.”
The Midwest City Fire Department in Oklahoma saw the video and posted a mention of it on their Facebook page, citing it as a low-risk public safety advisory during the bright summer months.
“The conditions must be just right,” David Richardson, a spokesperson for the Midwest City Fire Department, explained to TODAY. “The bottle has to have liquid, the liquid has to be clear, the bottle has to be clear, and sunlight has to pass through it at the right angle.”
The bottle’s rounded form is also important. On a sunny day, light streams through the front windshield and the filled water bottle, concentrating the light’s heat into a single spot. In seconds, that focused beam can reach temperatures of 400 degrees on a dimmer surface. That, according to Richardson, is hot enough to start a fire.
He emphasized that these requirements cannot be satisfied when a bottle is exposed to sunlight through a tinted window or while a vehicle is moving.
With just a little bottle of water and a dark sheet of paper, his team was also able to replicate the same combustion as Amuchastegui, although there is unlikely to be a sustained fire as his department has not recorded any vehicle fires caused by this method.
Take your bottled water with you instead of allowing it to bake in the car for hours—which is something you shouldn’t do anyhow! Take into account these reusable water bottles in addition to a few easy tips for maintaining proper hydration.
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