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Darwin Awards
2010 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Cleaning stove with gasoline

2010 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

The blaze broke out around 1 p.m. in a building in the 500 block of West High Street. Fire crews say the fire started in the rear of the building and quickly spread.

Our reporting partners at the Elkhart Truth say a tenant inside the home was cleaning a stove in a downstairs unit with a wet rag of gasoline. However, the man did not realize the stove's pilot light was on. The rag quickly ignited and badly burnt the man's left arm. Before escaping, he dropped the rag into a milk jug full of gasoline, causing the fire to spread further.

A fire crew spotted the smoke while on-duty at the Elkhart Jazz Festival and began extinguishing the fire minutes after it broke out. However, the fire moved too quickly for anything to be saved, including three dogs and a cat all of which died in the fire.

"I couldn't see anything, I couldn't yell their names because of the smoke, I started choking," said pet owner and tenant Roger Nichols.

Nichols is now displaced from his former apartment and suffering from the loss of his pets.

"I loved them. I loved them all. Now I gotta start over, I gotta start from scratch, it’s all you can do."

Paramedics took three residents to Elkhart General Hospital for smoke inhalation, one for burn wounds and one for injuries after jumping out a second floor window and hitting the sidewalk.

"We kept hearing people screaming so we cut back round this way and as we pulled up we saw two people then hanging out the top story window,” said neighbor Kimberly Smith.

"I looked out and it seemed like in a matter of seconds it went from nothing to a complete tinder box,” said Steve Dickson, another neighbor.

"The adjacent houses were very, very close. It was actually hot enough on the one side to melt the curtains inside the windows on the other structure,” said Wes Johnson, Battalion Chief of the Elkhart Fire Department. “So we not just focused on this house, but also focused on the houses on each side at the same time."

Fire investigators say the unidentified man who caused the fire immediately told crews what happened once they arrived on the scene. Investigators say his story makes sense and they're currently calling the fire an accident.

The Red Cross says it's working with the five people inside the building during the fire. However a few tenants are currently on vacation and will likely need help when they return to their charred home. Officials say the building is a total loss and will likely be demolished Monday.

Submitted on 06/28/2010

Submitted by: Phil Bielinski
Reference: WNDU.com 6-28-10

Copyright © 2010 DarwinAwards.com

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
Thanks, Phil, but we get lots of stories involving people using flammable liquids like gasoline as a cleaner/solvent and starting fires as a result.


James said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
Indeed, people have been using gasoline as a cleaning agent almost as soon as it appeared...often with predictable results!


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