[360 Spyder]

See what happens...

 

[rosed37]

Wow! what sparked off the gas fumes?
Ed

 

[Rosso]

Wow! what sparked off the gas fumes?
Ed

There's this show on the Discovery Challen called "Myth Busters", they're based out of SF. They talk about some interesting myths and see if they're actually feasable of happening. So in one episode, they were talking about the causes of fires at fueling stations. SO they saw that women caused more fires than men because they get in and out of the car more often/likely while fueling than men do. They do this without grounding their static electricity from the interior of the car, basically the clothes rubbing aginst the material on the seats/carpets/etc. Then the get out and the fumes around the hose/nozzle are in the air and they will then discharge their static electricity, getting close to the metal on the car, then BOOM! As you saw in the video, it ignites. The best thing to do though is to leave it in the car in the case of it ever happening, as to prevent the fire from spreading...although if you have a pitcrew like MS(ie: Austria 2003), you won't have to worry. But for the rest of us, the best thing we can probably do is to stay out of the car while refueling. If you do have to get in the car though, you should make sure to ground yourself while getting out by toching some part of the car away from the fuel nozzle.

As you saw in the video, the girl did all the wrong things, got out of the car without grounding herself, then went and got close to the nozzle and bam, there's your fire. Then she took the nozzle out, that could potentially lead to the fire spreading.

 

[Dj Dirk]

As you saw in the video, the girl did all the wrong things

well, you know, blond girls :lol: :wink: :green:

 

[360 Spyder]

Actually, by not jerking it out while it was the big ball of fire, she probably saved the station from blowing up. If she had of jerked it out immediately, the gas (petrol) would have been flowing from the nozzle and would have sprayed all over thereby making the fire much worse than it was. And, if you watch closely, she did stop the flow of fuel, waited a bit, then pulled it out after the flame died down.

However, none of this is to say that it was smart of her to not discharge herself in the first place because that was stupid. But, the way she handeled it was the best way she could have.

All of this information is based on my years as a volunteer fire fighter and the training we received.