USE OF PETROL.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20183, 11 March 1931, Page 9

USE OF PETROL.

DANGER DISCUSSED BY FIRE BOARD. WARNING TO THE PUBLIC. A diicu&sion about the dangers of fire irom petrol fumes arose at-lasii night's meeting of the lire Board. Mr E. H. Andrews, who introduced the subject, said there was important clause in the annual report of the Dunedm Fire Board which, he thought, should be given wide publicity. The clause was as follows:

Several recent fires have been c&used through petrol igniting when being used for cleaning purposes, near' a naked light, or fire. Where small quantities are used, there is a tendency to disregard the risk and danger oi its uso. A quotation from a. recent issue of 'Fiiu,' the official organ of" the British Fire Service,' read; 'One pint of petrol will exude sufficient vapour to. render 100 cubic feet of air highly explosive. The same quantity of petrol poured on a level surface will cover about 80 square feet with an inflammable vapour,' The groatest care is newissary m th<s use of petrol. Householders are warned against the "uso of petrol within many foet of a fire, ga§ ring, or electric heater, and the practice of cleaning gloves while on the hands is a most dangerous one.''

Need for Warning. The chairman (Mr T, M. Charters) agreed with Mr as to tho i necessity for warning the public. The Deputy Superintendent of the New York Fire Brigade, he said, recently i had expressed the opinion that, a pint or petrol wa§ so much moro explosive than a pound of gelignite, that he would rather have a pound of gelignite than a pint of petrol in his house, i The. same authority assessed the loss of life from fires in the United States at 28 per day throughout tho vear, j the majority of the fires being caused by the improper use of petrol. '• [ Mr K; W. Robinson: People don't i realise that no flame is needed to explode petrol. The chairman said that the same authority had given instances of the. explosion of petrol as the result of rubbing fabrics' to which petrol had been applied. Mr Butterfield remarked that thousands and thousands of women cleaned gloves on their, hands with petrol, yet they did not hear of, many accidents. ' Things did not seem as bad as thqv were made out to bo. Motorists at Fault. • The chairman said that the right set, of conditions must exist. They sometimes saw motorists smoking cigarettes while the tanks of their, cars wore Ipeiug filled. Mr Robinson" said' that sufficient statio electricity could bo , generated by the friction caused by the rubbing of • dress matorial damped with petrol to cause an explosion. Mr C. A„ Cooper remarked that 'bowser proprietors should he warned. Mr Butterfield said that' motorists .cot offended when '.told by bowser, proprietor's ta frut out their cigarettes. Jn #iostt bowser# ther«> wre ni# hotlpps -regarding the danger of smoking' in The cha«"mati: They tave thesal\no r tices; and that is about all thoy can do. * ■ a: