Hello, sherrycook-ga!
This proved to be an extremely interesting but difficult search.
Though there are numerous references to the hazards of pumping
gasoline or filling gasoline engines indoors, there are few references
documenting explosions or fires due to pumping gasoline into vehicles
in indoor facilities.
However, I have managed to unearth two, which are both very
interesting. They should both provide what you are looking for.
The following article describes an ongoing battle between the
Columbus fire chief and the installation of an indoor gasoline fueling
facility in the underground parking lot of the Ohio Statehouse:
As excerpted from "The State of Ohio and the Columbus Fire Code" at
http://jerees.home.att.net/gastank.html:
"In August 2001 I retired from the Columbus (Ohio) Division of Fire
after 29 years of service. Of the over 1500 firefighters in the
Columbus Fire Department, I was the most senior of the five assistant
chiefs, the rank just below the chief of the division, and the highest
rank achievable through competitive testing."
"From February, 1994 to July, 1999 I was in charge of the Fire
Prevention Bureau, a position that involved me in a number of
controversies. The most significant was over the illegal installation
of a 480 gallon gasoline tank and the dangerous and illegal dispensing
of gasoline in the Ohio Statehouse underground parking garage in
downtown Columbus."
"The saga began sometime in 1997 when the State of Ohio illegally
installed a 500 gallon gasoline tank in the Ohio Statehouse
underground parking garage, on the east side near the loading dock.
Because the Statehouse is state property, they had attempted to bypass
the city and get a permit from the State Fire Marshal’s office but
were not successful.
"After appealing to the State of Ohio Board of Building Appeals, they
were told, among other things, to apply to the Fire Department having
jurisdiction."
"After the tank was already installed, they did apply for a permit
with the Columbus Fire Division, and unknown to me, one of my
inspectors did issue the permit. Three days after the fact I found out
about it and immediately ordered the permit revoked."
...........
"A little lesson is appropriate here. How many places do you know of
where gasoline is dispensed inside of a building? In the unlikely
event you know of even one, it’s not in the basement of the building.
And there is a reason for this."
"There is a tremendous amount of energy in a gallon of gasoline.
After all, just a gallon can move a 3,000 pound automobile thirty
miles or more and that’s less than half of the energy - most of the
energy is lost through the exhaust pipe and radiator as heat and does
no useful work. A gallon of gasoline is said to have the power of 40
sticks of dynamite."
"Gasoline itself will readily vaporize anytime the temperature is
above about -50 degrees. Worse yet, the vapors are about four times as
heavy as air. That means that in the event of a spill the vapors will
move by gravity to the lowest portion of a building. When they find an
ignition source they will flash back with a quick release of this
tremendous amount of energy (an explosion)."
............
"The people at the Statehouse went to the Safety Director (Thomas W.
Rice, who is now in charge of security at the Port Columbus
International Airport) and the dangerous condition continued. But we
persisted. History tells us that, in the admittedly unlikely event
that the catastrophe happens, the fire department will be the
scapegoat."
"As the code defined, "Columbus City Fire Marshal," I consulted with
an assistant city attorney and, after considerable research, she was
ready to file for an injunction but was thwarted by the politicians."
"The mayor called a meeting in his office in order to resolve the
issue. He, the safety director, the state’s engineer, the CSRAB
(Capital Square Review and Advisory Board) executive director, an
assistant city attorney, an attorney from the state attorney general’s
office, and myself (among others) attended. The Mayor pointed out how
bad it would look if the city brought an action against the state. I
was tempted to ask him how it would look if the state blew-up a good
portion of the city. Instead, I appealed to the logic of the situation
and explained the sinister characteristics of gasoline and why
dispensing gasoline in a below grade location just isn’t done."
"Even though it was highly questionable whether the actual
installation of the tank was safe and legal, the meeting was concluded
with an agreement that the pump dispensing equipment would be modified
and all dispensing would be done above ground. Further, the tank would
be filled during hours when the building was not occupied. When the
new equipment was installed, we would issue the needed operating
permit. Everyone was in agreement and within the next week, letters
were exchanged testifying to the agreement."
"The state submitted plans for the aboveground dispensing equipment
which we approved. The equipment was installed and we issued the
permit. A major hazard in downtown Columbus was abated - or was it."
"Concerned by what I considered poor ethics of some of the people
involved, a week after the permit was issued, I stopped by to verify
that all was well. Unbelievably the illegal underground dispensing
equipment has been reinstalled. It was obvious to me that we had been
duped and I immediately revoked their permit."
"My authority to revoke their permit without a hearing was questioned
by an assistant city safety director (whose side was he on?) and a
state official, but the assistant city attorney concurred that I was
correct."
"The situation dragged on. The assistant city attorney could not get
approval from the safety director or the mayor to enforce the code and
the illegal and potentially dangerous operations continued."
"Time passed and the assistant city attorney assigned to the case
seemed to want out of the quagmire. On October 12, 1999, lacking the
support of the city administration, she announced to me that she would
do nothing further."
...................
"In a January 11, 2000 letter to the assistant city attorney, the
assistant state attorney general basically dictated what they would do
to resolve the matter. Among other things he said, (with some
exceptions) "all CSRAB equipment will be refueled at the above ground
dispensing station located on the Statehouse grounds." He closed his
letter by saying that this was a, "full and final resolution."
....................
Update - March 14, 2002
"I have received information that the Columbus Fire Department has
now issued a permit for the State of Ohio to dispense gasoline in
their statehouse underground parking garage. Apparently the issuance
of the permit was based on an inspection done by Lt. Lawrence Stevens
of the Columbus Fire Department. Lt. Stevens said in a memo to the
city fire marshal that, among other things, "they were not dispensing
fuel below grade because there are two large openings. (the entrances
to the underground garage at the base of the down ramps)."
"So much for the credibility of the inspection."
...............
Update - Tuesday, October 8, 2002
"Shortly after 1:00 AM on Sunday, October 6, 2002, statehouse
employees, in the underground parking garage, two floors below street
level, were refueling a small motorized vehicle with gasoline from a 5
gallon can. The gasoline apparently contacted a hot surface resulting
is a raging gasoline fire in the underground building. The entire
incident was video taped on a security camera."
"Within minutes the Columbus Fire Department arrived to find heavy
black smoke discharging from the air vent at State and High streets.
The visibility was on the fire floor was virtually zero. Firefighters
risked everything crawling through smoke and heat, not knowing the
extent of the fire and whether or not additional people were
endangered. Only by using their heat detecting camera were
firefighters able to find and then extinguish the flames. An immediate
thorough search for possible victims was impossible."
"The fire, that would have been a minor incident had it occurred
outside, endangered the safety of firefighters and statehouse
employees. Fortunately it did not occur during the busy part of the
day when many people's lives would also have been in jeopardy. The
loss was estimated by the fire department at a hundred thousand
dollars ($100,000.00)."
"This incident demonstrates, to those who do not comprehend the
dangers, just why dispensing gasoline inside a building, especially an
underground building, is prohibited. Unfortunately, there is every
indication that the statehouse will continue to flaunt the fire code
even though the wake-up call has been made."
See pictures at http://jerees.home.att.net/gastank.html
** While the above story involves the dispensing of gas from a fuel
container, I believe it proves the point that the gasoline was
accessed from an indoor pump, which was the precursor the entire
event. Had there been no gasoline pumps underground, the incident
would not have happened. Where the fuel is available, it will surely
be accessed. **
*******************************************************************************
Another instance of fire resulting from indoor refueling can be found
in the Opinion rendered in the case of Eddie's Bakery Company:
http://www.oshrc.gov/decisions/html_1981/77-1084.html
EDDY'S BAKERIES COMPANY
OSHRC Docket No. 77-1084
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
July 31, 1981
See excerpts:
Respondent manufactures and distributes baked [*2] goods throughout
Montana, Oregon and Idaho. Its Twin Falls, Idaho worksite was a 120
foot by 50 foot warehouse which included a retail bakery or thrift
shop and indoor gasoline pumps to refuel Respondent's delivery trucks.
The thrift shop was located in the northeast corner of the warehouse.
The west wall of the thrift shop had an entrance into the warehouse.
On either side of this entrance were open-flame natural gas heaters,
with the open flames only six to eight inches above the ground.
The truck entrance was on the north side of the warehouse, directly
beside the thrift shop. The two indoor gasoline refueling hookups were
located along the west wall of the warehouse, approximately twenty
feet from the entrance to the thrift shop and the open-flame heaters.
However, when a truck was being refueled, the truck's gasoline tank
and the gasoline nozzle were closer than twenty feet to the thrift
shop entrance.
On March 5, 1977, a gasoline fire and explosion destroyed
Respondent's thrift shop and warehouse. Wayne Hanks, an employee of
Respondent, was filling the tank of his delivery truck inside
Respondent's warehouse when he left the truck to make a telephone
call. Apparently, [*3] the gasoline nozzle fell out of the
truck's gasoline tank or the automatic shutoff device on the nozzle
failed to engage. Whatever the reason, several gallons of gasoline
spilled out on the warehouse floor. The fumes from the spilled
gasoline were ignited by one of the two open flame wall heaters
located only a few feet from where the truck was being refueled.
Supervisors of the Respondent testified that the company had a
workrule that required drivers to remain near their vehicles when
refueling. However, employees of Respondent, including several
drivers, testified that drivers regularly left their vehicles
unattended during refueling.
..............................
The judge explained Respondent's seventeen years without an accident
as "extraordinarily good luck." Judge Stuller pointed out that the
hazard had existed all that time and so could not be blamed upon the
carelessness of one employee. Accordingly, he rejected Respondent's
claim that the hazard arose from unpreventable employee misconduct. He
also said that several possible means of abating the hazard were
available.
*** Among the possible abatement procedures were placing the fuel
pumps outside the warehouse........****
........
The citation alleged that Respondent did not free its workplace of
the hazard because it failed to "effectively isolate" gasoline fumes
from the open-flame heaters. The Secretary suggested several ways in
which Respondent could have eliminated or materially reduced the
hazard, such as isolating the heaters from the fueling operation,
**placing the pumps outside,**
or changing the heating system.
***************************************************************************
I sincerely hope the above references will provide a sufficient
answer to your question. As you can tell from my search strategy, I
tried many possible avenues to find information. I am sure there must
be many more cases, but they may be hidden in some newspaper archives
not readily accessible online.
I will continue to keep a lookout, and if I find any more references,
I will be sure to include them in further clarification. I also invite
my fellow researchers to add a comment if they know of particular
instances pertinent to your question.
umiat-ga
Google Search strategy
+dispensing gasoline inside building AND fire explosion
+parking garages with +fuel facilities
pumping gas in enclosed areas
+Underground +gas +pumps +fire +explosion
Fire statistics +indoor gas stations
+gasoline explosions +indoor +parking +garages
american petroleum institute
Teoma Search strategy
fire indoor gasoline pumps |
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