Posted on 06/09/2002 3:22:03 PM PDT by chance33_98
Cigarette At Gas Pump Sends One To Jail, One To Hospital
Investigators say a 17-year old Austin boy set a gas pump on fire when he tried to fill his tank and smoke a cigarette at the same time. Just after midnight Sunday morning, investigators say vapors from the teens cigarette ignited, the boy was startled and pulled the nozzle out of the gas tank. The gas, in flames, splashed on a fourteen year old girl. She was taken to Brackenridge hospital with second and third degree burns. The 17-year-old boy is in jail on a $5 thousand bond. Over a thousand dollars in damage was done to the MetroMart Exon in Southeast Austin.
Good point. The people who stand there depressing the handle often overflow the gas tank because they cannot tell if it is full or not. While the auto-shutoff works even when you manually depress the handle, sometimes you can't tell if it was the auto-shutoff kicking in or if the shutoff was caused by you releasing the pressure on the handle. Also, these folks tend to try to get every last drop in there so they can extend the time before the next fillup.
When the handle is locked, it's a no-brainer. Pump shuts off and you know the tank is full. I have never spilled a drop of gasoline by notching the handle (or wedging in the gas cap when the notches are broken out).
Believe it or not, a cigarette will NOT ignite gasoline. (probably he was using a lighter)
I have had debates about this several times. As a way of demonstration, I take a cigarette and insert it into a length of small hose (tubing). Then, while sucking on it so that the cigarette is burning nice and hot, I can proceed to slowly put the cigarette into a small cup of gasoline. Pppssstt. The gasoline extinquishes the cigarett.
The simple fact of the matter is, a burning cigarette is not hot enough to ignite gasoline. Only in the movies.
Hollywood myth number 2. Gas tanks in burning cars do not explode. Reason: There is no oxygen in the tank. The tank may burst the pressure of boiling gasoline, with a resulting large spillage of fuel into the fire. But they don't violently explode.
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