WARNING - fueling safety

[NorCam]

Most people including many car people and racers take fueling for granted, and I can only assume many were like I was...totally oblivious to the real threat of an explosion and fire. I want to share this story with you guys in hopes that some people learn a few thing from this. I know I have. The story is of a friend of mine, a "carburetor guru" who I have also had some dyno tuning and carb builds done through. A very talented tuner, dyno technician and carburetor builder who practiced safety at all stops and is very experienced in handling all fuel types. He then faced a freak fire last December when a sudden explosion in his shop nearly cost him his life while filling a fuel cell on his dyno. Please read on (caption from his friends go fund me page outlining what happened)

Ryan Brown is a gifted engine tuner and builder of performance engine components who is well known to most muscle car and racing enthusiasts in Western Canada, and whose reputation extends across North America. Anyone who knows Ryan will tell you that he is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. From his shop near Strathmore Alberta, where he works entirely as a "one man show", Ryan has earned the great admiration of all who know him, and has done this without creating a single enemy. Despite Ryan's dedication to workplace and race track safety, on Wednesday, December 7, 2016, an extremely cold and dry day, Ryan had a tragic accident in his shop. While pouring gasoline into a funnel, inexplicably, despite no heat source and no apparent source of spark in the vicinity, the fuel ignited and exploded, severely burning Ryan's entire face and head. He was airlifted by STARS Air Ambulance to the Burn Unit at Foothills Hospital in Calgary, where he will spend at least five weeks. His entire head is badly burned. To date, Ryan has had six major surgeries, which include skin grafting to his cheeks, ears, nose, forehead and scalp, using large tracts of skin harvested from his back, thighs and buttocks. Needless to say, these weeks in the Burn Unit have been and will continue to be unimaginably painful.It seems that the only explanation for the fire is that the air was so dry that static electricity caused the fuel to ignite. This is the kind of accident that could happen to anyone, despite the taking of all appropriate precautions. Ryan's shop and equipment are heavily damaged. More importantly, it will be many months of recovery before Ryan is able to resume his business, and even then, the process of rebuilding his shop equipment and inventory will be time-consuming and costly.

Ryan continues to recover some 9 months later and is finally off the pain meds, but still fights an uphill battle. Here's an excerpt from the Facebook Page for Ryan Brown Performance.

Just past the 6 month mark (June 8th)... progress in some areas... like getting off all pain killers, certainly makes a person feel more human again! NASTY stuff!! Other than at physio and OT, I'm not in any pain, the issue is that all the skin areas effected on my face are constantly very tight and quite uncomfortable. Not so great news on the eye... Now that the eye lids are separated, I was hoping the eye would pop back open, but that has not been the case. Seems like that is going to be quite the rehab with more surgery not off the table. As I am learning, scars (and I have a ton of them!) take time to heal and become less active, so hopefully it will get better with time.
Getting things sorted in the shop is underway... but it will be well into 2018 no doubt once things get rebuilt. Can't really quantify the damage until you walk thru it... it is a daunting task that we are working on as much as possible. SO MANY people have offered to help and I am constantly humbled by the support!
Seems the phone system in the shop has been down for a while, and I did not realize it.... I can't get into the messages, but that should be fixed soon.
Thanks again for the patience in the frequency of my updates, lol.
Ryan

Bottom line = fueling is volatile at every level, and fueling anything while not being grounded or having anything around that can cause a spark or static discharge is all that's needed to cause an explosion and fire.

Be safe people...it can happen to anyone!

[camaromb]

Never fill gas containers above the ground for the same reason,potential static electricity buildup.

[67BelAir427]

This is an urban legend that has been around the internet for years.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

[earntaz]

Sorry -- but static electricity is NOT urban legend ... the whole issue is people doing DA things while fueling ...

To REPEAT!!!

Four Rules for Safe Refueling:

1) Turn off engine
2) Don't smoke
3) Don't use your cell phone - leave it inside the vehicle or turn it off
4) Don't re-enter your vehicle during fueling.

Just sayin' ... TAZ

[67BelAir427]

Cel phone use causing gas explosions is an urban myth...

[67BelAir427]

1, 2 and 4 are good advice.

#3 is not...

[camaromb]

So filling a separate gas container in your vehicle and not on the ground is ok? I thought that has been verified as an issue with static buildup and gasoline fires?

[Dave Rifkin]

Originally Posted by camaromb

Never fill gas containers above the ground for the same reason,potential static electricity buildup.

To make sure I understand; when I take my gas containers for my lawnmower to be filled they should not be placed on the ground by the pump when being filled? Where should it be placed?

[camaromb]

Filling a gas container "above the ground" as in the bed of a truck, in the back of a car etc.
That has always been my understanding, fill gas containers "on the ground".

[mssl72]

Some of those truck bed-liners can build up static.