Not to be too melodramatic, but there's a chance you might burst into flames at the gas pump.
This hardly ever happens, but it turns out it's happening more than it used to — maybe, says Robert Renkes, because of the preponderance of polyester pants. Or maybe because of the composition of modern automobile tires.
Nobody's sure of the exact reason, says Renkes, of the Petroleum Equipment Institute, which in honor of National Fire Prevention Week is reminding motorists about the dangers of static electricity. The petroleum industry promotes the display of static electricity warning stickers at gas stations — stickers that warn motorists not to re-enter their cars or use cellular phones or other personal electronic devices while fueling.
The Western Petroleum Marketers Association has sold between 7,000 and 10,000 static electricity stickers to its member gas stations in the eight Western states it covers. But the stations are not required to either buy or post them.
When news stories about the dangers of static at the fuel pumps aired earlier this year, Jon Humberstone took heed for a week or two. "Then I kind of forgot about it," he said as he gassed up Friday afternoon.
Zu Horng, who was fueling his car at the University Phillips 66 on 400 South, said he had never noticed the warnings. Does he ever re-enter his car while refueling? "All the time," Horng said. Especially when it's cold and snowy outside.
The Petroleum Equipment Institute and the American Petroleum Institute note that static electricity-caused fires at the pump are "extremely rare." Renkes of PEI says he's heard of about 250 total cases, including one death, out of the estimated 11 to 12 billion times a year Americans pump gas.
There have been two cases in Utah in the past year: one at a Chevron station in Taylorsville last January that occurred after the motorist got back into her car while refueling, then exited the car and touched the gas nozzle. The other occurred in Grantsville when a motorist was filling a portable container in the back of a pickup truck.
Any motorist can have a buildup of static electricity, but the charge usually dissipates before he dispenses fuel — usually when he touches the car's metal or touches the gas pump while inserting his credit card. But if he re-enters his car while gassing up he may slide polyester pants along polyester seat fabric. He might leave the car door open, so when he exits he might not touch the metal door handle or the car itself. He might simply march over to the nozzle, pumped up with static — which could potentially discharge and ignite gasoline vapors coming out of the nozzle, thus causing a flash fire.
Most incidents occur when the air is cool and dry, says Renkes.
Neoprene-soled shoes contribute to the problem because they don't allow the motorist to ground himself before touching the nozzle. "If everyone refueled in bare feet we wouldn't have a problem," Renkes says. Modern, "low rolling resistance" tires are also a problem. They reduce gas mileage but use less of the substance that dissipates static electricity.
The danger of cell phones is inconclusive. For several years, stories have circulated on the Internet referring to cell phone-caused gas pump fires, but the PEI calls these "urban legends."
Not so, says Larry Patrick of the Utah office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He said he has seen an accident summary of a fire caused by the use of a cell phone at a gas pump.
The PEI reminds motorists not to re-enter their cars when refueling, but "if you must re-enter . . . be sure to discharge any static that may have built up before reaching for the nozzle. Static may be safely discharged by touching a metal part of the vehicle, such as the vehicle door, or some other metal surface, away from the nozzle, with a bare hand."
It also cautions people to put portable gas containers on the ground (the actual ground, not the back of pickup trucks) while filling them, and to keep the nozzle in contact with the rim of the container.
For more information, check out the PEI's Web site, www.pei.org/static.
E-MAIL: jarvik@desnews.com