Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Fire Chief Convinced Cell Phone Sparked Gas Station Blaze-(They are starting to doubt Koch already).

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 22:05:02 -0400

Fire Chief Convinced Cell Phone Sparked Gas Station Blaze-(They are
starting to doubt Koch already).

By Stacey Sager
(New Paltz-WABC, May 14, 2004) — The fire chief in New Paltz says that a
full tank of gas and a cell phone may have nearly cost a college student
his life.

The student from SUNY New Paltz is recovering from burns after something
sparked a fire at a gas station. Investigators say he was at the pump
when the gas ignited. Stacey Sager reports from New Paltz with the
story.

The fire chief here says the problem was definitely a cell phone that
caused the explosion. A cell phone that was ringing, and which the young
man answered right as he was pumping gas. If it hadn't been for some
fast thinking people the explosion would have been a lot worse.

The clean-up was about the worst of it here at the Mobil station in New
Paltz, with white fire extinguishing powder coating the entire station
after last night's bizarre accident. Even the fire chief found it hard
to believe at first.

Chief Patrick Koch, New Paltz Fire Dept.: "I'm positive today, that as
of last night, 9:30 last night, I'm positive that a cell phone can
ignite."

If true, this would be the first confirmed case of what has been
considered an urban legend for the past few years. Stories of cell
phones igniting fumes at gas stations began circulating in the media and
on the Internet in 1999. Those stories apparently came from Asia, though
investigators have not been able to backtrack the anecdotes to the
specific individuals or events.
Since then, a good number of articles have been written that speculated
on the subject, though no definite cases have been uncovered. And some
have done experiments trying to create the proper conditions to ignite
gas fumes with a cell phone -- none of which appear to have been
successful.

For more on this subject, visit the Urban Legends Reference Pages.
http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

Nevertheless, New Paltz's fire chief says it started when a 21-year-old
student at SUNY New Paltz used pump number one to fill up his car. And
when his cell phone rang, he did what many would do -- he answered it.
At which point, the area around the nozzle of the gas pump ignited.

Chief Patrick Koch: "He saw a big flash of fire. He grabbed the pump out
of the tank of his vehicle, threw it to the ground and ran."

That's when a quick-thinking clerk at the station pulled an emergency
fire switch and the extinguisher came shooting out of the spouts.

The young man who was pumping the gas, Matthew Erhorn, was not at his
apartment today. We are told that he suffered only minor burns. Nothing
like cases we have seen in the past which mostly involved smoking near
gas pumps -- something many drivers wouldn't dream of doing. Answering a
cell phone, though, is not something many people think of as a risk.
Kevin Desha, Motorist: "Doesn't sound right. I mean, I watched 'Myth
Busters' believe it or not the other night, and it said that that's
impossible, so?"

Stacey Sager: "Go figure."

Kevin Desha: "Yeah."
There is a sign at the pump that tells you to turn your cell phone off,
posted inches away from where the young man was actually pumping the
gas. Fortunately, he suffered only minor burns, to one of his arms.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_051404_gasfire.html

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