Man dies after static sparks fire at fuel pump

[CoolBreeze]

It sometimes pays to be old and really fat!

It's very rare.

But the unusual tragedy happened last week in Camp Hill Pennsylvania.

A spark from static electricity at a gasoline pump ignited a fire that killed a 19-year-old Cumberland County man who was an aspiring police officer and avid bowler.


One of the major factors is motorists who get back inside their cars while fueling, building up static electricity, according to the report.

The report found that 78 percent of the motorists involved in such fires were women. "The young and the skinny" also are more susceptible to the fires, Renkes said.

Women are more likely to get back in their cars for several reasons, including to put their credit cards back into their purses, to check on children in the car or even to stay warm, Renkes said.

The young and the skinny are more susceptible because they can sidle in and out of their vehicles without touching anything. (while the old and fat look like they're emerging from a plane crash)


Millersville University physics professor John Dooley said the most dangerous time for static electricity fires is after you start fueling. There are many opportunities to ground yourself when you get out of the car, touch the pump and touch the fuel gauge door.

Dooley said some states have pumps with discharge plates, a piece of shiny metal with a sign reading, "Touch here before you pump gas," to remind motorists to discharge electricity.

http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/249644

[Scott Reppert]

I have always been amazed by the people that are standing by the pumps with a lit cigarette IN THE HAND THAT IS ON THE NOZZLE PUMPING INTO THEIR CAR and, to a lesser extent, people who are talking on their cell phones when the pillar that has the "do not use cell phones in vicinity of gas pumps" sign right about eye level beside them.

As for the static part, I have personally "felt" the static around the gas pump but have never given it much thought, just that it mentions it on the same sign as the "do not use cell phones" warning.

Here's a question for you though: HOW MANY OF YOU PUMP YOUR GAS WITH THE CAR STILL RUNNING, EVEN THOUGH THAT SIGN SAYS NOT TO DO THAT, EITHER? Let me know...

[oldtvman2]

While at Sams the other day one of their people was walking around the gas pumps with a walkie talkie that had more rf output than a cell phone. people are stupid thinking this will not happen to me, no not me someone else. speaking of stupid why didn't the driver of this runaway car just go ahead and turn the key off instead of call 911 and having a cop risk his life to tell him to do this. It looks like someone is going for a law suite. Just turn the key OFF.

[Dave Harman]

While at Sams the other day one of their people was walking around the gas pumps with a walkie talkie that had more rf output than a cell phone. people are stupid thinking this will not happen to me, no not me someone else. speaking of stupid why didn't the driver of this runaway car just go ahead and turn the key off instead of call 911 and having a cop risk his life to tell him to do this. It looks like someone is going for a law suite. Just turn the key OFF.

There is no key,at least, not the usual key. It's more like a computer dongle. There is a button, which must be pressed in and held in for a number of seconds to shut off the engine on those little computer cars. Of course, putting the car in neutral would have been the non-brain dead thing to do.

Also, you can't blow up a gas pump with a cellphone. That story has reached urban myth status to the extent they've even posted it on a gas pump. http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

[genlock]

Static electricity and electric current are two separate phenomena, both involving electric charge, and may occur simultaneously in the same object. Static electricity is a reference to the electric charge of an object and the related electrostatic discharge when two objects are brought together that are not at equilibrium. An electrostatic discharge creates a change in the charge of each of the two objects. In contrast, electric current is the flow of electric charge through an object, which produces no net loss or gain of electric charge. Although charge flows between two objects during an electrostatic discharge, time is too short for current to be maintained.

[CoolBreeze]

Yea... what he said.

[AmpedNow]

I have always been amazed by the people that are standing by the pumps with a lit cigarette IN THE HAND THAT IS ON THE NOZZLE PUMPING INTO THEIR CAR and, to a lesser extent, people who are talking on their cell phones when the pillar that has the "do not use cell phones in vicinity of gas pumps" sign right about eye level beside them.

As for the static part, I have personally "felt" the static around the gas pump but have never given it much thought, just that it mentions it on the same sign as the "do not use cell phones" warning.

Here's a question for you though: HOW MANY OF YOU PUMP YOUR GAS WITH THE CAR STILL RUNNING, EVEN THOUGH THAT SIGN SAYS NOT TO DO THAT, EITHER? Let me know...

I'm guilty of all of the above at some point in time, though not recently.

I do get back in the car when the wind chill is running wild. That's probably the most dangerous time, too, since the humidity is usually very low.

But I really hate freezing, too.

[CoolBreeze]

Remember that it's not the gasoline that's the problem so much.... but the vapors. Most people believe for instance that a car on fire is going to blow up... just like in the movies. That doesn't happen, or if it does, it's such a rare occurrence that it doesn't even count. I've been on hundreds of car fires where the car was totally engulfed in flame. I've been on car fires where only the spout of the gasoline filler area was on fire. No big deal. As far as diesel fuel... hell... we used to put out our cigarettes in the stuff. The point is that in the case of this man getting killed, something tells me that there's much more to the story, because the only way he might die is if he panicked and somehow spilled gasoline on himself, OR the vapors were SO much that a huge flash fire took place instantly. That's about all that could happen because the gas station didn't blow up (as they rarely ever do. Hell.. the gas hose can be on fire and it's no big deal. Been there too) so I think something else took place. It's all about vapors, and little else.

[Lester]

To actually get ignition from a static discharge, I'm going to guess that maybe the tank might have started to overflow and he reached to shut it off. It also doesn't state *what* he was pumping gas into... could have been a plastic fuel can (which increases the odds for static discharge, especially if they're on a plastic bedliner).

[genlock]

I bet it ignited and, to save his car, he pulled the hose out and sprayed himself.
Big lawsuit.

[jag]

Of course, putting the car in neutral would have been the non-brain dead thing to do.

I, too, thought this to be the case, Dave. However, it has been suggested to me by those who know vehicles better (i.e., most of the world's population) that there could be an electronics system built into today's vehicles to prohibit that from happening, so as not to over-rev the engine. Of course,it goes without saying that it's far preferable to wipe out an engine than to wipe out a life, but that's a potential explanation I've received.

[genlock]

Today's cars have a rev limiter.
The comment on whether HAL will let you go to neutral is valid.

[Dave Harman]

News accounts say he did put it in neutral, after being coaxed / nagged by the flanking trooper to do so. He explained it by saying he would have done it sooner, but he was afraid he'd put it in reverse

In his defense, they say putting a Prius in neutral requires an unusual shift - even though they do it everytime they put the car in Park. http://www.pr-inside.com/stopping-a-run ... 769460.htm

But really, this guy's gotten as much pub as Balloon Boy. What's that tell you?

[AmpedNow]

Guy is over $700k in debt.

Debtors include Toyota.

He wants a free car.