BHUBANESWAR: Keeping a sanitiser bottle with you is fine but think twice before leaving it inside your car and without checking on its cap. A resident of the City who had sanitised his car’s dashboard, steering and seats before leaving for his medicine store at Ruchika Market here had a close shave when his vehicle caught fire on Sunday.
K Sanjay Patra had parked his car near his shop. "I left from my shop after 2 pm and within 100 metres, it caught fire. I abandoned the vehicle and it was in flames within minutes," said Patra. Odisha Fire Service pressed two fire tenders and over 10 personnel to douse the blaze which took 30 minutes.
The fire officers suspect two possibilities behind the accident - a short circuit or vapour formed inside the car due to the sanitiser which leaked till the engine. Patra had kept a sanitiser bottle and a spray inside his car and said he disinfects the vehicle once every 15 days after outbreak of the pandemic. He, however, could not recall if he had closed the cap of the sanitiser bottle.
A fire expert ruled out the possibility of the vehicle catching fire five hours after being disinfected by a sanitiser. However, he said that a sanitiser bottle left open in a car will lead to evaporation and due to the heat, it may turn into highly flammable vapour and remain trapped inside the vehicle. "The vapour will keep on accumulating inside the car which becomes like a gas chamber. A small spark, even from an ignition, is enough to start a fire," he said.
Different brands of sanitisers have different concentrations of alcohol but mostly it is in the range of 60 to 80 per cent. The flash point of alcohol in sanitiser is just 21 degree Celsius, the expert said. Sunday was a hot and sunny day and maximum day temperature in Bhubaneswar was 35 degree Celsius. Investigation into the cause of fire is still on.