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 worked as a tire changer years ago. This is the tire changer's worst nightmare. I can't imagine why anyone would used a torch to repair a rim while the tire was still mounted and aired up, though.
Sounds like Physics 101 to me....
Why would anyone weld a rim with a tire on it? This isn't a freak accident. You're supposed to remove the from the rim first, and it's not just for safety.
I'd think not blowtorching an inflated tire is something they tell you early in tire-changing training. I mean, even I know not to do it, and I'm not a tire-changer. (Well, not a professional one. I do it on the side for fun, mostly to my own car because I have trouble with curbs sometimes.)
Freaks and accidents can be a deadly mix.
Correction on the last one. "You're supposed to remove the tire from the rim first, and it's not just for safety."
I can't even see welding a rim with a flat tire on it. The heat would damage the rubber.
Sounds like a Darwin Award nominee, IMO.
This happens with truck tires. Passenger car tires don't usually have enough pressure to explode hard enough to kill. Who would weld on the wheel with the rubber attached? Use iron glue.
My guess would be that the tire in question may have been previously filled with a "flat fix" aerosol inflation can.
Contents are flammable and under some conditions may explode.
Sad such a hard working guy lost his life
The article doesn't state what kind of rim it was but I have a hunch as to what happened. Sometimes to get a tubless tire to seal gasoline is used to cause a snall explosian so to speak to get the tire to seal on the rim. If there was still remnants of gasoline inside the tire the torch may have ignited it even with the core removed from the stem.
I believe fix-a-flat constains some flammable chemicals (propane, butane), tire changers don't like it for that reason.
But even heating just compressed air in that scenario is Darwin Award material. And this sounds like it might have been a two-piece wheel, dangerous in itself.
fix a flat ... the repair in a can.
very explosive.
You are supposed to take the wheel off the car and use a seperate machine to remove the tire from the rim.
seen THIS?
So9
This happened to me with my bicycle years ago. I stopped by the filling station to juice up the tire and didn't realize I needed to adjust the pressure. After 2 seconds the tire exploded, blowing my hat off and nearly causing loss of sphincter control.
I thought they changed the formula due to that. It's illegal to use Fix-A-Flat in many states and all federal government vehicles because of the explosive potential.
Just Damn!
Spray a little ether into a truck tire, light a match. Years ago, I was able to get several stubborn truck tires bead to seat so they could be inflated. An old guy with only 7 fingers showed me this trick. He was a little hard of hearing too.
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