OT: People Doing Dangerous Things at Gas Stations.

[elevmike]

That's good to know. Do you know how many are coming? I'm going to make steaks, pork chops, deer sausage, and some smoked salmon for them, and I'd hate to run short.

If you care to add veil tenderloin to the menu, be sure to let me know.

Here's a link for you: http://mtd.com/tasty/

 

[jthomes]

Just remember Wino, there is plenty of room for all God's creatures, right next to the mashed potatoes.

 

[elevmike]

Just remember Wino, there is plenty of room for all God's creatures, right next to the mashed potatoes.

Different potatoes for different animals. Redskins for beef tenderloin, Russets for Ribeye, Sweet potatoes for babyback ribs etc.. Dont for get the mint with thoes lamb-chops.

 

[Wino]

I just saw that the annual seal hunt in Canada starts Saturday.

Dangit! My club is in the shop for repairs! Nothing tastes better than roast baby seal, except maybe spotted owl eggs.

 

[Lancie1]

My younger brother and his buddy (about 6 years old at the time) were under the edge of the porch having a smoke. Dad came out the front door, and my brother was looking for some place to hide the butt. He dropped it down into a 5-gallon can sitting there handy. It happend to be a gas can, nearly empty, but not quite. It blew up, blew the hot melted bottom of the can into his face, 3rd degree burns all over his face and arms, burned the hair off his head and eyebrows, and taught him a lesson about lighted cigarettes and gasoline.

If there is anyone who thinks a cigarette can't ignite gasoline, please don't come near me at a gas pump! I have seen people get badly burned trying to toss gasoline onto a smouldering brush pile. I have seen 3 different guys (at gas stations) get badly burned when the battery in their cars blew up and splashed acid into their faces. Old defective battery + guy with cigarette grinding on starter = bad news!

Gasoline is dangerous stuff. If it was invented today, everyone would have to take special training to be allowed to get near it. There are fools out there that think because it is common and anybody can buy and handle it, then it must be safe. Wrong!

 

[danw]

Yes, I was there when a lady pumped gas all over the ground and herself.

About 4 years ago at a Shell station in Gary, IN, an elderly lady at the pump in front of me took the nozzle out of her car's gas tank while the pump was still pumping. The pump valve was mechanically latched on.

She yelled something or other, which made me turn to look at her, standing there, while the gas is spewing out, pumping out at something like 5-6 gal/min all over the concrete apron.

I ran over, slapped the pump lever which killed the pump and hung her nozzle up.

The lady's clothing was soaked in gasoline. The ground was covered with liquid gasoline. It's hard to say how much because liquid on a concrete surface spreads out, but it ran under her car to other side and puddled in low areas.

I guided her out of the area to the station where the attendant took care of her and then ran back to get the other lady passenger out of the car, because of the fire hazard with the open gas. She was even older and didn't want to get out. Eventually she got out and left the car.

I told the attendant to call the fire department to come and stand by until the gas evaporated but he wouldn't and I didn't have a cell phone with me. So I left.
But, it's one incident in 40 years of driving and having been at a filling station maybe 4,000 times.

Dan

 

[elevmike]

I have seen 3 different guys get badly burned when the battery in their car blew up and sprayed acid into the faces.

Been there, fortunatly my mother was standing near by watering her garden and, with no pause, turned the hose on me. After returning from the local ER, my brother informed me that 1/3 of the battery was totally missing. No smokes involved, just a twist of the 5/16 socket and BOOM!

 

[darrenj]

reminds me of the time when i was young and foolish..now i am just old and stupid..its true..ask my daughter..she will tell you..

I was arc welding on my garden tractor..I finsihed the weld and pulled the rod away...strangly enough i could still see through the visor..i lifted the mask to find the mother of all fires!! The gas tank was leaking and the fuel had ignited..I pushed the tractor outside..after some runnigng around looking for an extinguisher..(That i didnt have)..i was lucky that i was broke at the time and the fuel tank was empty..I droped a wet towel over the area and all was good...I sat down and gave my head a shake..I remebered the stupid things i did..Not having the correct wrench to take of a gas tank strap..so torched it off...I dont know i how i am alive today..But as they say God looks after small children and drunks..

I am also a smoker and last year i stubbed a smoke out in the ash tray..i then emtied the ash tray...i was just walking out the door when the wife asked what that smell was..once she said something i could smell it..well i walked into the laundry room downstairs and it was full of smoke..the trash can was smoldering away..moments from full flame i am sure..I ran the thing upstairs and threw it outside...

Now i have a dry chemical extinguisher in most rooms in the house..one in the laundry room,furnace room,kitchen,garage,deck..as well as a CO2 in the garage..

While i know i wont set a fire by pumping gas with a smoke..i still wont do it...i like my smoke's but i like coming home even better!!

 

[Rod]

Not a fuel service facility thing but..

I used to spray a LOT of lacquer paints, I even had a 55 gallon drum of lacquer thinner in the spray booth (exhaust fan ventilated).

After the spraying was done I would shut off the fan to help keep dust from coming into the spray room and contaminating the freshly painted surfaces.
So I'm cleaning up the gun, sloshing thinner all over me and the floor and my boss would come in the room and toss her cig on the ground.
I watched horrified when the butt hit the ground tossing off sparks.

I fussed, she ignored me.

Using contact adhesive I would have up to 6 4X8' sheets of pressboard and the same amount of laminate exposed. (You can see the fumes roll off the surfaces and pour onto the floor like a mirage)

She would march in and toss a lit butt on the floor.

I'm amazed she didn't blow up the whole dang museum!


When I was building the F111 fighters a painter finished swabbing down the inside of the main fuel tank with MEK. That tank is about 8x4x6'. He stood up in the open hatch and lit a cig.
I got to him first, he wasn't burnt, just pretty broken up from his 'flight' (I never saw him again)

Hell! No wonder I have cancer!

Rod (The CNC Dude)

 

[elevmike]

Rod,

We recently did a pre-project site survey. The owner was storing a bunch of chemicals in the machine room so I picked up a container and gave the container a quick read to find that "Causes cancer in CA" wording. I showed it to our service supervisor. He said "well, hell; we're in Michigan...no problem"

We asked the owner (in writing) to remove all the chemicals. They did.

What a dumb A$$ label.

 

[Lancie1]

Now i have a dry chemical extinguisher in most rooms in the house..one in the laundry room,furnace room,kitchen,garage,deck..as well as a CO2 in the garage..

Good plan and highly recommended for everyone. You should also have one in each of your vehicles.

I started keeping one in my cars and trucks several years ago, when I was building some roads on the farm. I bought an old dump truck to haul the gravel. I was coming in with a load and I smelled smoke and saw flames coming through the floorboards. The emergency brake, which I had used while loading the truck, was stuck in the on position and did not release, and had heated up the flywheel to red hot. Not having an extinguisher, I drove it into the yard and got the garden hose sraying onto the fire. I managed to save the truck, but I did have to replace the emergency brake linings and fix the problem with the release mechanism.

Since then I have kept fire extinguishers in all my vehicles. Due to having one handy, so far I have also saved two vehicles belonging to other people, a van and a car, who did not have an extinguisher. It is amazing how many vehicles catch fire and all the owner can do is stand back and watch it burn because he doesn't have a $15 fire extinguisher.

 

[elevmike]

Since I was 16 I've driven pickups. So I ALWAYS mounted two fire extinguishers on the seat pedistals facing each door. We also have them in all of our trucks. In my 30 years of driving I've used them twice. Once to put out a fire on my neighbors lawnmower, and once to break a window to get some people out of a car wreck.

Now I drive a LaSabre and there's no where to put even just one. Kinda feel naked without it.

 

[elevmike]

Stupid Gas Grill incident.

Years ago shortly after I bought my first house, girlfiend and I go to the local garden shop and pick out a really nice gas grill for my brand new 500sq ft deck. So the one we pick out was out of stock but the sales guy offered me the floor model for 10% off. What a deal! It's already assembled and less expensive! So we make the deal, get a can of LP gas, and toss them in the back of the pickup.

So we get to the house and the Red-head, (fake of course, (trust me I know for sure)), runs in to cut fillets from the tenderloin while I unload and fire up the grill. I put the tank in, turn on the gas and push the starter...Whoosh! Great right?? Well all of the sudden I noticed that theres a lot of heat then the wood skirt starts smokin & flammin and stuff. So I take a look at it sidways and there a huge flame directed right at the tank, and the paint is starting to burn away.

I go to shut this thing off but no dice, so I try to turn the valve on the tank and find that a little much. So I grab the hose and start hosin, but it's still getting hotter. I call the red-head to get another hose or the fire extinguisher, but she comes out and sees that I'm fighting a loosing battle and runs behind the garage and screams for the dog. Not much help there....

By this time I'm afraid to put down the hose because I dont think I can get clear before the big bang, so I stick with it keeping the water stream on the gas tank, which by now has a visable bubble protruding from the top outer edge.

So the neibhors are aroused to the commotion and smoke, (now the decks on fire), and so Jim jumps the fence with his hose and between the two of us I can get a hand in to turn off the gas.

Seconds later we're surrounded by a bunch of guys in turnout suits with BIG hoses. They take a look at the now 1.5 size tank, and call the Macomb County Bomb Squad who takes the gas bottle & grill in a containment trailer and blows them up in some field.

It turned out to be a combination of two errors, faulty regulator, (not regulating), and loose hoses, (floor model assembly with no tools).

In two weeks I get TWO new decks, TWO new grills, & TWO new deck furnature sets....Eventually got a new girlfiend (not mispelled), also..

AS for me; 1st & 2nd degree burns on face, chest, hands & arms. Looked like hell for a while, but got over it.

 

[goxx]

we had a lady drive off from the pump with the pump handle still in her car. it broke off, hit the concrete, sparked, ignited, the whole gas station burned down. she had no idea what had happened.

whether she was smoking or not, i don't know.

 

[TimWilborne]

Probably stupider is tossing cigarettes out of a car into the woods while driving down the road. 20 miles down the road you hear on the radio that a forest fire has started.

The driver thinks...Must have been kids in the woods playing with matches