

| Subject: | Re: 1985 Vanagon fuel overflow?/spills/fire |
| From: | Stephen Steele |
| Date: | Thu, 15 Feb 2001 06:57:22 -0500 |
Max asked: > I would think 2 gallons of gas on the concrete/asphalt would certainly wet > 200 square feet of pavement for sure. Anybody else got an opinion on this? 20'x10'...5'x40'...2'x100'...Nope. I'm no chemist, but, in my fireman/paramedic experience with vehicle accidents and fires, the spilled gasoline starts to vaporize and thereby thin without too much spread. In larger punctures and tears in the gas tank(s) the gasoline will gulp and flow more, but still evaporates fairly quickly. Lots gets absorbed into the pavement, too. In a recent "car fire from hell" an SUV was on fire in a parking lot full of cars and one of its two fuel tanks ruptured from the heat of the fire, causing its twin to do the same ( BTW I've never seen a 'Hollywood' fuel tank explosion). The gas spewed and flamed until we extinguished it, then would immediately erupt from the fresh gas from the opposite side. All we could do was keep the fire from impinging on any more neighboring vehicles (five total damaged). Incidently, the fire started in the dash and quickly engulfed the entire auto and one other... we could see the smoke column for two blocks. She had just topped off both tanks. -- Stephen Steele Chillicothe OH '91 Caravelle Hans '84 Westfalia Fritz
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