Strangest story of summer

And an old one too.

US-based CBS News recently reported that “leaving bottled water in your car could start a fire”.

Firefighters were apparently warning people not to leave plastic bottles of water in their car because direct sunlight could “start a fire in just a couple of minutes”.

The alert dates back to 2017 when a bottle left in a truck in Idaho caused a burn mark in the seat underneath. The driver, taking a break, noticed “some smoke out of the corner of my eye”. He “looked over and realised light was being refracted from a water bottle and was starting to catch the seat on fire.”

After disbelieving colleagues dismissed the story, the incident was re-created on video and posted on Facebook. Many fire authorities then conducted their own tests.

So, the advice is … store your bottle out of the sun. Otherwise water could burn!