RESIDENTS of caravans have been warned about the dangers of candles after fumes in a whiskey bottle ignited and led to a fire.
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Detective Sergeant Mark James, of the Hamilton police crime investigation unit, said an 85-year-old Hamilton man was injured after a fire in a caravan Friday night.
The man has since been flown to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne for treatment after suffering burns to his legs.
Police were called to a Hamilton-Port Fairy Road property at 8.10pm last Friday.
Detective Sergeant James said it appeared the man had a candle in a liquor bottle which sparked a fire in a caravan after the naked flame came in contact with alcohol fumes.
"It's a non-suspicious fire and the cause is being investigated," he said.
"It appears that the candle's naked flame has burnt down and come in contact with the warmed alcohol fumes in the liquor bottle, those vapours then ignited and caused an explosion."
Detective Sergeant James said the bottle exploded and that led to the fire in the caravan which resulted in the elderly man suffering burns.
"The warning is two-fold. Don't use candles in caravans which usually contain a a lot of flammables," he said.
"And if you are going to use liquor bottles to hold candles make sure you wash out the bottles," he said.