Gas Fumes 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Personal Account
When I was much younger I worked in a gas station in South Florida. A local man was known for being a heavy drinker. He pulled up to our gas station, complaining he was running out of gas much faster than normal. We noticed a big gaping scrape in the side of his car as if Goliath was using it as a nail filer. He explained that the previous night while he was drinking he backed up and over a large rock.
y fellow gas station attendants and I quickly checked his gas tank, and sure enough, it was leaking gas at an alarming rate. We pushed the car into the shop while the man axiously awaited. We told him it would take $50 to order a new gas tank and install it.
The man was furious at this high price, and being a former boatyeard welder, decided to weld it himself at his own home. We begged him to reconsider but he did not.
About 2 hours later while doing our various gas station duties, we heard a deafening explosion which left our ears hurting for a few days. A few minutes later, rescue vehicles were speeding by the station heading in the direction of the man's house.
We were all scratching our heads, wondering if this could be the man's gas tank that had exploded. A few weeks later, we got our answer.
A eyebrowless, bandeged old man hobbled into the gas station sheepishly and asked us if we could tow his car back to the station and fix the tank for him. We agreeded to do so for the same price we offered before, but we also asked for an explanation.
The man reported that he had gotten home and pulled out all of his tools out from his former welding days in the boatyard The man used metal cutters to cut the gas tank out of the car, poured the gas out, and put it on a limestone rock. Not realizing that the fumes from the gas still lingered in the gas tank, even though the gas itself was gone, he began to weld. Immediatly he was blown backward by the force of the explosion. Luckily for him, he had been welding as he was tought to, with the weld itself facing away from him. This meant that the explosion and flying pieces of metal did not hurt him, but the tank did. It propeled him backwards into the fence, breaking many of his ribs and limbs and burning his face severly.
Even though this man did not die, he very well could have if not for some smart medical personnel and sheer luck.
Submitted on 06/11/2002
Submitted by:
Eric B.
Reference:
Summer 1976, Pompano Beach, FL
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