Posted on 01/16/2010 11:45:07 AM PST by Chet 99
NEWARK -- A man was in critical condition Friday night when he accidentally lit himself on fire with a cigarette while cleaning motorcycle parts and unintentionally splashed himself with gasoline, authorities said.
The incident occurred at 7:57 p.m. at a residence on 14th Avenue near South 19th Street where a man was cleaning motorcycle parts when he splashed himself with gasoline, said Newark Fire Chief Michael Lalor.
He then lit a cigarette and accidentally lit himself on fire, Lalor said. Relatives rushed over and put the flames out.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Sorry, I digressed and neglected to answer your question directly in the last post.
We have two beakers one with gasoline the other with kerosene. I first light a match and ask the kids what will happen when I drop it into the kerosene. Typically they expect it to light. The kerosene at room temperature actually douses the flame. Then I do the same thing with gasoline with a different result in that the vapors light up with the match. Then we put the beaker of kerosene above a burner and bring the temperature of the liquid up to it’s autoignition point somewhere around 200 degrees, drop the lit match in and this time there is fire. What we are demonstrating is the differences in ignition points and autoignition points in hydrocarbons.
The bottom line I’m trying to impress upon the kids is that gasoline is extremely dangerous and volatile at room temperature and actually at just about any natural environmental temperature. Kerosene which is similar to diesel is much safer.
The reason for these demo’s is fire safety. A lot of kids get burned every year using gasoline to torch things. I’m showing them how unpredictable, volatile and dangerous gasoline is. Of course I also show a couple videos and pictures of what happens to burn victims.
FYI: This is something we do with the 8th grade program not the elementary kids. They get a puppet show.
Your welcome...but we all know it’s all about you.....
Now there is a grouping of words I never expected to see on FR!
I’m a rider too. I’ve found I ride entirely differently when on a cruiser vs a crotch rocket. Sometimes I like to describe myself as “Old enough to know better, still too young to care.”
Diesel fuel.
Flashpoint is 100-140F depending on additives while the autoignition is over 400*F.
I’ll take your word for it. I’m working off memory here, my class notes are in my office. The point of course is that Kerosene has to be heated to “light up” Gasoline goes off easy. The beakers and bunsen burners do a good job of showing this.
Walmart.........10 dollars a gal.
jeff bebber
Gee thanks Eagle Eye. There ya go with the name calling again. Add misquoting to your list of transgressions against me. I did not say I use gasoline for cleaning. In fact I mentioned that it’s too dangerous for such things instead I keep kerosene for that purpose, it’s much safer. Whatever you have against me you should get over it. This is a forum for people to have discussions. You are simply trying to intimidate me. Please don’t bother me anymore I’ve had enough of you.
My apologies. I misread and saw gasoline where you had clearly put kerosene.
After seeing several of your posts I've developed the default position that you are wrong, as you normally are, and are one of those that are spring loaded in the wrong position.
Please don’t bother me and keep your comments about me to yourself. Calling me a “DumFk” on this string was entirely unprovoked and uncalled for. Your apology can not be accepted as legitimate and only half-hearted at best as you had to in your next sentence get your little dig in. Again, leave me alone. Find a better pursuit for your time. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you would take the time to read what I’ve posted previously, in it’s entirety, you will probably find that we agree more than we disagree. But, once more, just leave me alone.
I apologized for misquoting and that was it.
The best way to ensure that I don’t make fun of your mistakes is to check what you post before you post it. But the fact is that you posts have mistakes and I’m not the only one that calls you on them.
Portraying yourself as an authority on flammables because you’re supposedly a fireman then you post wrong info regarding flammability puts your credibility at stake. Well it would if you had any. Damn, man, I knew the flashpoint of kerosene off the top of my head but had to consult MSDS for the autoignition point.
Do you actually respond to fires or do you just babysit the firehouse when the firemen are out fighting fires?
Oh, that was rhetorical, don’t feel obligated to respond.
I think demonstrating to kids how to make a “cool light show” with matches and gasoline is probably one of the reasons that you and your fire fighter freinds are necessary.
Well I’ll suggest that you’re taking it a little out of context. It’s not like I’m showing kids how to create IED’s. We are demonstrating the differences between different hydrocarbons. In the process of giving a “Chemistry of Fire” education we also sneak in our fire safety messages. I’ve received nothing but positive comments from the teachers and parents. Our City has been doing this program for about 20 years and we have very few juvenille fire starter issues. We manage to get into every middle school in our City and I spend 3 days with the kids going over this curriculum during their Science class. It might be a poor analogy (you decide) but teaching sex-ed in PE class doesn’t necessarily make kids pregnant. Oh or how’s this one, spoons don’t make Oprah fat. As a matter of fact one of the questions I ask the kids when we start out is “Who has ever used a lighter and lit up an aerosol spray? WD-40, Axe body spray, etc.” The answer by show of hands at the 8th grade level is consistently at or near 100 percent. I like to show the kids why they should not do this. This is done through our demo’s and some video’s, which are pretty heart-wrenching.
The way I’ve looked at it is if I can get through to these kids not to use gasoline to start campfires, put it into squirt guns and light the stream or any number of other crazy stunts, that’s one of the big goals. Kerosene is much safer for starting camp fires by the way.
OK, you’re the pro. I appreciate your taking the time to respond. I’ll admit that if I saw your demo I would have a different opinion. It just sounded a little scary to me and I was an eigth grader so I know what you’re talking about. We did some dangerous things for “kicks”. Lucky we weren’t hurt badly. My mom was burned, third degree. She carried the scars for fifty years.
Volunteer, I believe.
As a member of the National Fire Prevention Association and a professional member of the American Society of Safety Engineers I am appalled at what he has boasted of doing, especially in light of an abundance of errors in his other posts.
Your common sense told you what he was doing was wrong, didn't it? Sadly, teachers and parents will often reluctantly go along with whatever cops and firemen tell them even when it defies logic and common sense.
HAHA
You got banned.
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