WASHINGTON — With temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s, firefighters are on high alert for things that can explode in your car in these kinds of temperatures.
Firefighters warn that lithium batteries in cellphones and laptops are a common thing they see that heat up in high temperatures.
On a safer note, but messier one, things like candles, crayons and sodas are things we don’t think about in our car, but when left in a hot vehicle, it can leave an expensive mess.
“Because it’s so hot outside, it makes pressure, it pops out,” recalled Sofia Garcia. “So, there is stain all over the car.”
Garcia described the time yogurt exploded in a hot vehicle that the owner brought to David’s Auto Detailing to clean out.
“And the smell, it is hideous,” Garcia said.
And then there are the waxy things owners leave behind, too.
“Some customers buy candles, and they forget and they leave it on the seat, or they leave it in the back seat,” said Garcia. “Or they leave crayons. Crayons or the kids, they’re playing in the back.”
And it can leave a mess that is difficult and expensive to clean out.
“It is a four, five hours job,” Garcia said. “And it is, for example, for a small vehicle like this one, its $329.”
“And you gotta think about other things like any flammables you have,” said Eastside Fire and Rescue’s Catherine Imboden.
She says it includes lithium-ion batteries that are in just about everything.
“Our lithium-ionn batteries in our laptops, in our phones, in our batteries, my radio here,” she said.
All of them can catch fire.
“Any of these things, in this hot weather, direct sunlight, you’re gonna experience or could experience fire in your vehicle,” Imboden said. “So, be wary of that.”
If you want to clean up the mess yourself, Sofia Garcia suggests if wax melts in your vehicle, you can rub it with an ice cube to make it easier to remove. Sometimes, even heat will work.
But it’s probably best to just take everything out of your vehicle that could overheat and save yourself the headache.
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