Illinois fire department warns against leaving hand sanitizers inside car after fire

An Illinois fire department is warning the public not to leave containers of hand sanitizer in the car, or else a fire will happen. 

The Waukegan Fire Department posted on Facebook on Thursday explaining why no one should keep any liquids like hand sanitizer inside the car in direct sunlight. 

In the photos, they stated that the fire appeared to be caused by the car owner's small bottle of hand sanitizer that was left on the dashboard in their preliminary investigation. 

The owner had been refilling with 80% alcohol sanitizer that was supplied by their employer. It appears sunlight shining through the windshield onto the sanitizer was enough to cause ignition.

Before the fire department arrived, the fire was put out and the owner had only sprayed a small amount of water through a hole in the windshield. 

According to the fire department, nothing inside the vehicle was wet, giving the impression that it went out due to the lack of oxygen. 

The Waukegan Fire Department strongly recommends that hand sanitizers not be kept in cars.