Thailand: Don’t leave a lighter in your car during extreme heat

A pickup truck parked in the sun all day burst into flames in Buriram province in northeast Thailand after a lighter exploded on the front seat yesterday.

Summer is in full swing in Thailand, with peak “feels like” temperatures shooting up to 50 degrees Celsius yesterday in Bangkok. Every region is sweltering with heat.

At 3.30pm, officers at Nang Rong Police Station were informed of a car fire outside a home in Nang Rong district. Police rushed to the scene with Mueang Nang Rong Fire Department firefighters, the Buriram Highway Police Rescue Unit, and Siam Ruam Jai Salvation volunteers.

Officials found an Isuzu D-Max pickup truck with a Nakhon Ratchasima number plate entirely engulfed in flames outside a house in Ban Thung village.

Locals said the fire had been raging for a long time. They tried and failed to extinguish the flames themselves before calling for assistance.

The pickup’s owner, 55 year old Boonhold, said he’d parked the car in the spot since noon and went to help out at the temple in his village in Buriram, in Thailand’s Isaan region.

Boonhold said he got a call from his wife to say the car was on fire. By the time he arrived, firefighters were already putting out the flames, but the pickup was already destroyed.

Nearby residents said that two explosions were heard before the car went up in flames. Boonhold said he left a lighter in the pocket of the front door, which is expected to have exploded in the heat and ignited the whole car.

The fire was possibly fuelled by a bottle of alcohol gel also left in the front, said Boonhold. Once the charcoal in the pickup’s trunk caught fire, the entire vehicle was engulfed in flames.

Boonhold said he wants to warn people not to leave lighters in their cars this summer in Thailand. They might be small but they are flammable and can cause significant damage if they explode.

So how much heat does it take for a lighter to explode? Most lighters come with a warning, “never expose to heat above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius).”