If you have a car, chances are high that in the backseat or somewhere on the floor is a half-empty water bottle or two just baking in the hot summer sun. You probably just haven’t gotten around to throwing them out, like most of us, but after a video from an employee of the Idaho Power Company went viral showing a car seat beginning to catch fire from a water bottle left in the sun, firefighters are warning that it’s a serious danger.
Apparently the water bottle acts like a magnifying glass, and when sunlight hits the liquid it creates a beam of sunlight that can actually start a fire. The circumstances have to be just right and the chance of it happening is low, but why risk it? Firefighters stress that it’s simply safer to toss your water bottles or leave them out of direct sunlight when your car is parked.