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Probably each of us has left something in our car in the past, such as clothing, food, or a bottle of water. That’s normal. Some people even use the car as their second living room.
Water bottle
One thing you should not leave in the car is a bottle of water.
Why not leave a bottle of water in the car
Believe it or not, even plastic or glass bottles of water can cause a fire.
In the following video (in English) you will see how one person experienced it first-hand.
Video
Dioni Amuchastegui is a backup technology specialist at a distribution company in Idaho.
He was just on his lunch break when he suddenly smelled something. Dioni looked back and noticed smoke coming from his van. So he went to see what was happening.
A bottle in the car, which acted like a magnifying glass focusing the sun’s rays, caused a fire in the seat!
Fortunately the fire was only at the beginning, and he was able to successfully extinguish it. It could have been much, much worse!
Firefighters’ explanation
Cases like this are not common, but we must be aware of the possible risk.
That is why firefighters warned all drivers not to leave unnecessary items — even a bottle of water — in their car.
A fire brigade in Oklahoma even decided to check. These firefighters found that the temperature of sunlight concentrated in a bottle can reach 120 ° C.
That is enough to ignite flammable materials found in the car.
Firefighter David Richardson explains that if sunlight passes through water or another transparent material and conditions are favorable, a concentrated beam can appear.
It then acts as an ignition kit for flammable materials, such as plastic or leather, that can be found inside the vehicle.
