AN UNLUCKY Dublin man has warned people to be vigilant when using hand sanitiser after his hands went on fire during mass.
In what is an unusual potential side effect of people regularly using hand sanitiser to keep the coronavirus at bay, Dubliner Tim Hendricken urged people to remember that most sanitisers are alcohol-based and there is a very real possibility of it catching fire.
Tim, who is from Palmerstown, called into Joe Duffy's Liveline radio show where he explained he wiped his hands with alcohol wipes before attending mass during the week.
As is common for worshippers to do before or after mass, he went to light a candle and say a prayer, but was shocked when his hands caught fire.
Thankfully he was able to extinguish the flames quickly, and the short sleeves he was wearing meant his clothes didn't catch alight-- a lucky escape.
Tim wiped his hands with alcohol wipes before going in to church but his hands went on fire! He was able to put it out quickly and he's fine but he wants people to be careful!@joeliveline#liveline
— Liveline (@rteliveline) July 6, 2020
Calling into Liveline to warn others, Mr Hendricken said he assumed the fire was caused by vapours from the alcohol wipe which caught fire as he reached across open flames to put the candle in its holder.
"I called into a church on Saturday morning," he told the radio show, "and as we're all told we have to wash our hands I used the sanitiser in the porch of the church."
"I walked maybe three metres across to light a few candles, and Joe, my two hands went on fire!"
Thanking God for his short sleeves and the slow burning flame, he continued: "The hair on my arm got singed, that's all that happened to me, but if somebody else had long sleeves, it could have been serious.
"There was no pain, the alcohol burnt off rather than anything else. It was difficult to put it out but I didn't panic and I put the fire out."
