NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 20
OCONOMOWOC, WISCONSIN
Viral Distortion
How a fire department's social media post caused
an explosion of false claims over hand sanitizer
By Angelo Verzoni
The power of a Facebook post became
abundantly clear in May when a fire
department's message about bottles of
alcohol-based hand sanitizers (ABHS)
led people to falsely believe the products could spontaneously ignite if left
in a hot car. The viral post prompted a
clarification from NFPA.
On May 21, the Western Lakes Fire District in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, set out
to deliver a helpful fire safety message
about flammable liquids. "Most hand
sanitizer is alcohol-based and therefore
flammable," the department wrote on its
Facebook page. It's what came next that
confused people and, ultimately, led to
the post being deleted and an apology
from the department. "Keeping it in
your car during hot weather, exposing
it to sun causing magnification of light
through the bottle, and particularly
being next to open flame while smoking
in vehicles ... can lead to disaster," the
department said.
While the post did, albeit in a somewhat jumbled manner, hint at the
truth-at room temperature and above,
hand sanitizer can ignite if met with
an ignition source like a flame-many
people misinterpreted the message to
mean it can ignite purely from the heat
inside a hot vehicle, which is false. "I
didn't realize or think about hand sanitizer possibly starting a fire in the car,"
one person wrote on Twitter on May
28. Major news outlets fell victim to the
confusion as well. "Hand sanitizer left
in hot vehicles can explode, experts
warn," a headline from CBS News read.
"Fire department warning: Hand sanitizer could explode in your car this
summer," the New York Post wrote.
Several of these articles, as well as
the original Western Lakes Fire District
post, pointed to a Learn Something
GETT Y IMAGES
Dispatches Briefs
20 | NFPA JOURNAL * J U L Y /A U G U S T 2 0 2 0
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7/1/20 2:16 PM
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - July/August 2020
Contents
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 1
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 2
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 3
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Contents
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 5
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 6
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 7
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 8
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 9
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 10
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 11
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 12
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 13
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 14
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 15
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 16
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 17
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 18
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 19
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 20
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 21
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 22
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 23
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 24
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 25
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 26
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 27
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 28
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 29
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 30
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 31
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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 33
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 34
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 35
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 36
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 37
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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 40
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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 45
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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 80
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Cover3
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Cover4
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