Every year across America about 300-500 fires occur when someone is going to have surgery. People express surprise when they hear that such an event can occur. How is this possible? Well, in surgery there are often high O2 (high oxygen) levels- think face masks. There are alcohol swabs put on bodies. Then there can be sparks from a Bovie (a surgical instrument that has a high frequency current for cutting or destroying tissue, such as cauterization) which can ignite these combustibles if people are not careful. A flash fire can occur. Lately, there have been discussions about people who are using hand sanitizers catching on fire. This transpires because often sanitizers have alcohol and then that person is smoking or around flames of some kind and a flash fire erupts. The key is this: be careful when around alcohol and any kind of instrument or product that emits fire or electricity. Such seemingly innocuous situations can be very dangerous.
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