That’s exactly what happened to Dioni Amuchastegui, a technician with Idaho Power.
"I was taking an early lunch and sitting in the truck.
I happened to notice some smoke out of the corner of my eye, and I looked over and noticed that light was being refracted through a water bottle and was starting to catch the seat on fire," Amuchastegui explained.
The water bottle, Amuchastegui showed, was left in the path of direct sunlight coming through the driver’s side window.
"It’s not something you really expect – having a water bottle catch your chair on fire," he added.
But was Amuchastegui’s experience a freak accident or an actual threat?
A month after his original video was posted, the Midwest City Fire Department in Midwest City, Okla., put the water bottle scenario to the test.
Video posted by the fire department showed David Richardson successfully burning a hole through a piece of paper with a water bottle placed in direct sunlight, though Richardson warned that the experiment was successful due largely to a perfect storm of circumstances.
Amuchastegui’s experience came amidst continuing speculation as to whether or not it is safe to drink water from plastic containers that had been exposed to sunlight for extended periods of time.
Of the 16 bottles, only one exceeded EPA standards for the carcinogen antimony and bisphenol A (BPA) at the end of the trial, though researchers still cautioned against leaving water bottles in cars for extended periods of time.