So there is a run on gas in the DFW area today. I filled up yesterday, almost every place today ran out. I was out this evening and saw a 7-11 that had some with a small line so I pulled in for 1/4-1/2 tank. I pump and notice the guy across the way with a whitr work pickup truck with the tool boxes on the side of the bed pumping.....but he's filling up 3-4 55 gallon rubbermaid type garbage cans with open tops in the bed of the truck. Gas station is overpowered with the fumes, you could smell it hundreds of feet away.


So I call the local police non-emergency line and the operator says he'll send someone out. I ask if it was against the law, he said he didn't know. I have a background in transportation and was certified on various hazmat along the way and remember from that and in general something like "not to be transported in unapproved containers". I give description, license plate, etc. I'm still on the phone with them when the first officer gets there and the dispatcher says he hears thr officer radioing for the fire department for a hazmat situation. I parked in another lot and two more police cars showed up along with a fire engine, so apparently they thought it was something worthy of response.


Now, I try to mind my own business and that has served me well for a long time but the fumes were so strong and it just looked like an explosion waiting to happen. I wouldnt put it past someone to light up a cigarette in the area either being a dumbass or not seeing/realizing what was going on....or any other item that could cause ignition. There was a ton of people there, probably a 10 car line on each entrance to the station along with all pumps full. It wasnt the fact that he was being an asshole by getting 150+ gallons of gas either. For me it was that selfishness and putting everyone there in danger, along with who knows on the roads or where he was going after. No idea what they are going to do but something tells me he just wasted hundreds of dollars on gas.

So was it a good call? I think so. You decide though.

Question:
Good call?

Choices:
Yes, good call. Explosion waiting to happen/unsafe
No, should have minded your own business

 

I think I would have made my priority getting the heck away from him. That's enough gasolina to make one hell of a conflagration. Seriously, that's a potential hellacious mess.

If I had called the police, I wouldn't have stayed to see what happened. It's probably against the law, but I'd have to search for the statute. From a thousands feet away.

I've never seen 150 gallons of gas catch on fire...but I bet some of our mathematically inclined members would tell us that is more than a dozen sticks of dynamite worth of *boom*. Probably more than several dozen sticks of dynamite.

Good call. I don't want a nanny state, but that guy was doing something really idiotic that could have easily been a huge disaster.

Good call. Either the gas would eat through the trash cans and spill all over the highway, or there wouldn't be a gas station left after it exploded.

IE:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?...vVPdg&has_verified=1

NSFW, by the way. But funny as hell.


And another, because this guy really is funny as hell, and don't play with gasoline!




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuYiAhDanY8

If the professionals call in for the other professionals to determine if there is s hazmat situation then there probably is a hazmat situation.

What did home slice think he was going to do with 150 gallons of gas in open tubs? Can't store it inside anything so let it sit outside and catch the rain?

quote:

Originally posted by BRL:
What did home slice think he was going to do with 150 gallons of gas in open tubs? Can't store it inside anything so let it sit outside and catch the rain?

That's exactly what I was wondering. What a dumbass.

This gas run stuff here has been freakin absurd. I drove past a shell station this morning that on any given day as 1, maybe 2 cars at it. Well today there was a line 60 deep that overflowed onto a main FM road.

That guy was an idiot. Any spark, even from static electricity or a cell phone, could have caused an explosion in that cloud of fumes. There are signs warning about that on the pumps. Chongo's advice to get away from there was good. Upwind.

Then call.

To add,

I noticed the smell immediately upon exiting my vehicle at the pump. Started pumping and was almost done when I saw what was going on. Drove past him on the way out and got the plate and then made the call from an adjacent parking lot/strip mall probably 3 football fields away but had a clear line of sight. Not to be overly dramatic but it was one of those times in your life where you realize that one wrong move by anyone around you and its over.


As to the question of what was he going to do with it? No idea. Didnt see lids but maybe he had them...not that they would make a difference. Maybe a landscaping type guy with equipment to run? Filling up any large container he had for personal/work vehicle use because of "panic"? I have no idea. I do think it was wreckless, selfish and dangerous.

I'm sorry...yall guys are trying to be serious and shit...but I'm over here with tears in my eyes watching Uncle Rob. Sorry...it's been a long day and I needed a few laughs, and don't play with gasoline!

One last one:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-qaC3NJ5ww

The 150 gallons of gas isn't a big deal. If you could magically get rid of the fumes and try to light the surface of the fuel on fire you probably would have a hard time getting it lit and it wouldn't be a big deal. The problem is that you can't magically get rid of the fumes and they are scary dangerous.

Two gas stories, both from when I was a teenager:

My mom's hairdresser's husband was killed by the explosion when he dropped an empty fuel tank that had been out of whatever vehicle it was from for more than six years. It it the concrete floor of the barn he was working in, blew up, and killed him.

I was welding some brackets to hold oxyacetylene tanks on an old P&H arc welder (run by a flathead Ford industrial six) when as I reached around to weld the back side of a joint there was a flash. Thinking WTF, I pulled back and peeled my helmet off to see what was going on. Imagine my surprise upon seeing gasoline pissing out of a small hole about halfway up the side of the gas tank, on fire. A quick swat with the welding glove put out the fire, then I took the glove off, covered the hole with my finger and figured out what to do. A video of me stretching to shut off the welder and get a five gallon bucket to catch the gas would probably have been humorous though it didn't seem very funny at the time. If the tank had been less full I might not be here. As it was, not a big deal: drain the fuel, give it a few days, go to Baskin Robbins and buy a big bag of dry ice, tape the hole, dump the dry ice in the filler neck, and when the CO2 is spilling out of the filler neck, take the oxyacetylene torch and weld the hole up. When back to working on the brackets, be darned sure that the tail of the rod doesn't stick out the back side of the holder. The things we sometimes get away with...

I would have called 911

Good call to 911 I say. Garbage cans full of fuel is just plain stupid. Was probably taking them home to put in the garage where the gas water heater is.

I was told in the Training Academy that 1 inch of gasoline takes 5 minutes to burn. Doesn't matter if it's 3" across or 50'.
Never tested the theory though...hmmm...I wonder.

No brainer yes. Very dangerous.

I would have said something to him if I wasn't focused on getting gas myself but from what your saying I'd just said something to him to stop him and then left out of desire for self preservation.

What a silfish retard.

"Against the law", not sure. But if it's in his pickup he's in some serious violation of DoT regs. Given the quantity, they could even slap him with a Hazmat transport without a license.

But why would the station owner sit by and not shut off the pumps? That idjit could have burnt the entire station down. I have been in stations where someone comes in with some bucket or bottle to get some gas, but the station shuts the pump down and they tell them to go get a proper container.

I see it as against the rules, dangerous, and very stupid. It would of been nice if the station attendant had caught it, but likely asking to much at a busy station.

And he was filling the cans while they were off the ground and in his truck?

Yeah, this retard was lucky he didn't kill a lot of people.

It's actually illegal here in GA to fill anything other than a regulated container.

Call the police!