CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Fire investigators believe a bottle of hand sanitizer left on a car's dashboard sparked a fire Thursday afternoon in Waukegan.
The fire happened in a car in the 400 block of Pioneer Road.
Waukegan Deputy Fire Marshal Todd Zupec said a bottle of hand sanitizer acted as a magnifying glass with sunlight coming through the windshield and started the dashboard on fire.
Zupec said the car's owner used a garden hose to put out the fire before firefighters arrived.
"It isn’t necessarily the danger of the hand sanitizer. It’s the danger of the clear bottle with the liquid. It’s been known to happen with water bottles, as well," he said.
Deputy Fire Marshal Zupec said, though, the hand sanitizer with its alcohol content is flammable and can make a fire worse.
His advice is to "keep those things put away in your glove box or somewhere out of direct sunlight."