Posted on 06/04/2004 9:06:49 AM PDT by jtminton
FORT WORTH - The owner of an East Seminary Drive tire shop was killed Thursday night when the tire he was repairing burst as he worked in front of his wife and four children, police said.
The man, in his mid-40s, suffered severe head injuries about 7:45 p.m. as he worked in the parking lot of Texas Tires, 1245 E. Seminary Drive, police said.
"It was a really loud pop," said 10-year-old Tadea Rios, whose family was also having a tire repaired at the store. "It was so loud it was scary."
Friends identified the man as Abu Hassan, an Iraqi immigrant who owned the business for about seven years. They said he kept long hours, staying open seven days a week and working into the evenings.
"He was apparently using a torch to do some welding to the rim" of a tire from a trailer, said Lt. Gene Jones, a police spokesman. "Heat from the torch may have caused the tire to explode."
The rim was found about 25 feet away, Jones said. It was not clear what part of the tire caused the injuries.
Police led the man's wife and children, ranging in age from 10 to 17, back inside the business. Ministers who work with the Police Department came to counsel the family, he said.
Hassan was injured a few months ago when another tire burst, his friend Allen Yousef said.
"He is a great guy," Yousef said. "Very nice to everyone and all his customers.
"I just got call from someone who said, 'Your friend is dying over here.' It's so sad for his family."
Amar Sghyer said he heard the tire burst from his auto shop a half-mile away. He said working with tires can be more dangerous that some people think.
"I had this happen to me awhile ago, but I got out of the way just in time," he said. "It's terrible that this happened to him."
Hassan had moved here with his family from Basra, Iraq, Sghyer said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alex Branch, (817) 390-7689 abranch@star-telegram.com
I blew up a tire yesterday on my bike using a handpump, the dog bit me because of it!
LOL!! And I bet you forgot to have the video camera running.
I knew what had happened before I ever opened the thread, I've kept abreast of these types of incidents for some 20 years now, the tide of idiots never ebbs.
Had he removed the valve core, he probably would have been okay unless he set the rubber on fire and burned his face off.
I'm so old I remember when they sold "curb-alarms" at Western Auto stores. :)
The pressure increases to critical levels as a resault of the applied heat.
Absolutely unnecessary to explain the explosion, although worth investigating just to resolve all details.
Nope, had the core been removed the gasoline? would have boiled or flamed off, not exploded.
Sorry, the flammable mixture would in all likelihood simply burn like a lantern under the circumstances you propose.
Because its a mixture of fibreglass strands and a collodial glycol that is murder to clean off; the flammable gas is used because Freon was outlawed for that purpose and would be far more likely to be ignited by a tire changer than by a simple deflation method.
Try blowing out the flame at 17PSI and report back to us.
Western Auto stores? When I was a kid we had to patch innertubes when we had a flat tire!
'Western Auto'! Bah! Humbug!
:)
There's no oxygen inside the tank, you dunderhead!
This seems to be a case of exothermic decomposition. No oxygen required.
I'm fairly confident I couldn't blow it out at 7, so I think it's safe to assume I'm not going to have any better luck at 17.
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