Re: Serious story on the danger of flammable fuel . . . but I'm still scratching my head on some of

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/11/17/news/bangor/explosion-reported-at-lagrange-convenience-store/


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Hmmm . . . please if I am ever on fire do not throw 12 ounces of scalding hot coffee at my face. If for some reason I have not stopped, dropped to the ground and begun rolling around on the ground to extinguish the fire . . . then by all means push me on to the ground and start rolling me around as I'm pretty sure that would be more effective at putting out the fire than a small cup of scalding, hot coffee.

Uh . . . just a dumb firefighter . . . guess I never realized that diesel is "probably worse than gasoline" . . . seems to me I have seen and heard of far more stories of folks getting in trouble lighting fires with gasoline due to its lower flash point than diesel . . . but then again . . . what do I know?

And another Huh . . . diesel is safe as long as the fumes don't come into contact with a flame or ignition source . . . couldn't you pretty much say that about any flammable or combustible fuel? I mean gasoline is also safe . . . as long as you don't put a match into a gas can.

The guy is 71 and cannot afford health care . . . this I understand . . . but not getting health insurance because we're "pretty healthy" . . . I dunno . . . I think when anyone is getting up there in age it's probably a good idea to have some sort of coverage even if you are healthy . . . heck, it's probably a good idea to have health insurance when you're 21 even . . . __it happens.

And the wife is holding partially burned lottery tickets . . . and wondering if a) the tickets are winners and b) if they are winners if she could redeem them . . . I guess I would be thinking more about my spouse and his health at that point.

Really sad to see or hear of such nonsense. Jake, you are a dumb firefighter and I'm just a plain old dumb guy but I doubt either of us would do some of these things we read about.

I just now read this...

"“Like if you are welding, you fill a tank full of diesel fuel you can weld it,â€

Oh, really? Seems legit.

Nothing like hanging on to a bunch of lottery tickets sayin' you ain't got money.....

Well sort of. Combustion requires fuel AND oxygen to happen...the idea is if you fill the tank right to the top you will evacuate the air out and even if the fuel inside exceeds its flashpoint it still can't ignite wihtout a source of oxygen. Its safer to weld a full tank than a half full one. Safest of all would be to drain the tank and then fill it with dry ice I think.

There is so muhc wrong here that its difficult to decide where to begin talking about it...I kept checking the website to make sure it wasn't The Onion or some other joke news website, but this appears real. Crazy.

I would posit that this statement presupposes a level of scientific knowledge that the subjects of this article may not have.

I'm afraid it is all too real . . . the follow up story was out the other day . . . the old fella is pretty lucky . . . supposedly he is getting out of the hospital soon and has vowed not to mess with the stump any longer.