Hand sanitizer explodes campfire in Evansville, severe chemical burns and arrest follow

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — An explosion rocked a neighborhood in Evansville, and when help arrived to investigate, they found a woman with severe chemical burns screaming, “The hand sanitizer blew up.”

The explosion happened Tuesday around 4:43 p.m. in the 3400 block of Saint Joseph Avenue, the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office says. Smoke and haze filled the area, and a 32-year-old woman had “redness across her chest and what appeared to be severe chemical burns,” VCSO said in the press release.

She was airlifted to a hospital due to the severity of the burns.

Still warm to the touch was a burned, blue tote with a “dirt-like” substance and a melted chemical container inside. A rubber hose looked like it was connected to the tote, VCSO said.

Then investigators found a large amount of hand sanitizer. Investigators think the hand sanitizer was used to light cardboard for the campfire, which would explain the explosion.

Evansville’s bomb squad took a precautionary search of the home while neighbors were temporarily evacuated. Outside of a “suspicious” device above the doorway — which turned out to not be a threat — no explosives were found.

However, the following search by the Sheriff’s Office was different. In the home were glass pipes with marijuana ash and a safe with more marijuana and methamphetamine inside. VCSO arrested the woman’s boyfriend, 40-year-old Zachary Simmons, for the drugs and neglect of a young child who lived at the home.

That’s because deputies found “troubling living conditions” inside the home, VCSO says. The drugs were easily accessible to children and mold-cover food littered the house. The Indiana Department of Child Services was called to take the child into custody.

While the exact causes of the explosion are unknown, VCSO says there was no explosive materials or drug manufacturing at the house.

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