Gentleman plays with cigarette lighter while pumping gas

[Video Link] Faced with the prospect having to wait a minute or more while his tank was being filled, this gas station customer amused himself by playing with his cigarette lighter. His boredom was successfully alleviated and he was able to demonstrate his car door jumping skills to an admiring YouTube audience.

(Via Geekologie)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

More at Boing Boing

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Hackers prepare for first "national holiday" in their honor

TheKaz1969

Probably trying to set up the gas station for a lawsuit…
http://www.geekman.ca GeekMan

Fire extinguisher in the foreground: completely untouched. Bystander throws bucket of water on blaze.

*sigh*
- blueelm
  
  This video is like a long list of “don’t” with very little “do” except perhaps “do wear a nicely striped hoodie when you play zebra”
  - MarcVader
    
    Although you REALLY shouldn’t wear stripes when playing WITH zebras.
    
    http://i41.tinypic.com/fej49e.jpg
  - Wreckrob8
    
    A properly attired gentleman would never be seen in public without his striped hoodie. He was probably testing his lighter should a lady require a light.
- MarcVader
  
  Just to say this more clearly: It’s bad idea to throw H2O on burning gas. If the flame is hot enough, in this case it wasn’t, the H2O atoms split into H2 and O. Oxygen — you don’t want that there!
  - Douglas Stuart
    
    no.
  - sidb
    
    In that case, the energy to split the H2 and the O came from the fire, making it cooler. If the H2 and O then combust and recombine, the heat that was taken is just added back. Nothing gets any hotter overall.
    
    The real danger of throwing water on gas is that water can turn to steam explosively and propel droplets of burning gas over a larger area.
    
    (Or perhaps you were thinking the released oxygen could then recombine with something even more exothermic than the hydrogen from which it was liberated? That seems maybe theoretically possible but not too likely.)
    - Warren_Terra
      
      That seems maybe theoretically possible but not too likely.
      
      In an atmosphere that’s 20% oxygen already, I’d say that’s not too likely.
    - CLamb
      
      Also gasoline floats on water therefore the water might not be able to extinguish the fire by separating the gasoline off from the oxygen.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=714120068 Ben Sherman
    
    no no no.
  - Richard Dagenais
    
    Do not believe everything you write on the internet.
- http://twitter.com/incarnedine_v Dan Hibiki
  
  why did he jump over the door to get away when he could have bolted the other way just fine?
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Because the fire was in the other direction.
http://gspirits.com/ Zod

D@mn:twitter , another Darwin recipient gone AWOL!
What makes this even more stupid? There was a fire extinguisher RIGHT NEXT TO HIM!
What an ID10T
http://twitter.com/cbuchner1 Christian Buchner

In case of fire – don’t pull out that hose. the resulting spill will make things worse, as demonstrated in this … “training video”.
BombBlastLightingWaltz

The station clerk throwing as much water as possible down the fuel hole of the car is funny enough.
- gargoyle
  
  Especially since you should never put water on a gasoline fire, for risk of spreading it out and making things worse.
  - Charlie B
    
    Well, except that it works. There’s always that.
    - Warren_Terra
      
      There is a difference between “it worked” and “it works”. It might not have worked, and (even assuming no-one was hurt) the gas station’s insurers might not have paid under those circumstances; the car owner (or their insurer) might even have sued if more damage resulted after the bucket of water spread the burning gasoline about.
- Ramone
  
  Better to ruin his car and keep him from finding more mates.
- Richard Dagenais
  
  Mostly this looks like the vapor burning. If the flame had reached to the tank full of fuel the video would have been a ka-boom.
  
  The splashed water just helped cut off oxygen supply to the fire, extinguishing it.
  
  Similarly the pump nozzle valve was almost certainly closed. There is most certainly a check valve on that line as well. The fuel on the tip of the nozzle will burn for a few minutes. Again with water cut off air supply to the fire and that’s it.
  
  This was a perfectly safe way to put the fire out because it was not a substantial liquid fire yet.
  
  As for a little water in the tank, not good but not really a car killer.
  
  The person who put the flame out did exactly the right thing in my opinion, as evidenced by the fact that the fire was put out and very little property damage or harm to anyone occurred.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Brandon-Wright/100000568910979 Brandon Wright

Soo not only did he set his car on fire, but decided to run away and COMPLETELY MISS the fire extinguisher. God people are dumb…
- Warren_Terra
  
  Not really fair. Yes, he was well supplied with dumb. But it’s not really fair to excoriate him for overlooking a highly visible fire extinguisher amid the excitement: he was running for his life. We can hope once he’d gotten some distance and some perspective he’d have spotted it.
  
  Now, the other person, who in this thread has been assumed to be an employee of the station, not using the fire extinguisher, that’s harder to explain.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    But it’s not really fair to excoriate him for overlooking a highly visible fire extinguisher amid the excitement: he was running for his life.
    
    Then I’ll just excoriate him for leaving his door open and trapping himself between the door and the gas hose.
Judas Peckerwood

Damn, I hope he’s sterile.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=552825859 Arnaud Meyer

Darwin award FTW
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000335676462 Mona Tara Morgan
  
  Hopefully the fireball char broiled his testicles, removing the chance of his polluting the gene pool.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mennonot/sets/ mennonot

I wonder how many lives will be saved by watching this video.

Someone should do some research paper on the value of Youtube in common sense education.
Youtube makes life lessons so much more memorable.
- Judas Peckerwood
  
  I’m not sure someone stupid enough to play with a lighter at a gas pump would even be able to access Youtube.
  - DeargDoom
    
    You have been able to enjoy YouTube without ever noticing the comments? Id kill to be you.
traalfaz

Pretty sure the bucket contained sand, which is fine.

Genius boy, when confronted with tiny little 3″ fire, decides pulling the gas line out is a great idea. Congrats, now it’s a 3 foot fire. Then running instead of turning and grabbing the fire extinguisher 2 feet away (or any of the ones undoubtedly on every other pump there).

I’ve actually had to walk over and deal with situations that idiots cause at gas stations a number of times, though not fire yet. I have had to go put out fires in cars on the road, or in a can of solvent. People just freeze for some reason and will stand there and gibber like a monkey when there’s something unexpected going on, instead of dealing with it.
- http://www.edmstudio.com futnuh
  
  Genius Boy should be added to a no-fly list, in the sense of a lifetime restriction on obtaining a pilot’s license. His reaction to this stress situation is quite telling.
  - Ipo
    
    Was that captain Francesco Schettino in a striped hoodie?
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  It is called panic. It is part of the reason we train people so they don’t panic.
  - Steve Taylor
    
    Totally – I’ve frozen up when I’ve seen someone about to get run over. Doing bugger all when surprised by danger is all too normal.
    - glittalogik
      
      We covered this in fire warden training – In a random group of a 100 people in an emergency, 5-10 will take charge and manage the situation, a slightly smaller number will panic (but still be manageable, just highly distressed), most will just mill around waiting for someone to tell them what to do, and one or two will go full retard and hide in a cupboard.
      - http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
        
        I remember reading about a fire around an LPG pump at a petrol station. Lots of people panicked except a passing plumber who stopped his truck, and pressed the EMG STOP button.
  - http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
    
    Its also why we try to design systems to be Fail Safe. I have tried to persuade my wife that it is Not Safe for her mother to lock herself in her house (with bars on the windows) and keep her keys in a kitchen draw above the propane tank. She insists that if she has to leave she will just grab the keys from the usual location and unlock the doors.
- retepslluerb
  
  I don’t think it’s a bucket. Looks more like a watering can. Also, looks like water on the ground, not like sand.
  - Ipo
    
    Squeegee bucket.
- Lexica
  
  It’s not sand — it both splashes when tossed and reflects light once it’s puddled on the ground.
http://profiles.google.com/joshuabardwell Joshua Bardwell

People. It is specifically the fumes of gasoline that are flammable. You’re paying attention to the liquid, because that’s what you can see, but the liquid is totally harmless. And gasoline fumes get: EVERYWHERE. To wit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f4lPzxSm5A&feature=fvwrel
- http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt
  
  Vid is neat, but the ‘music’ sucks….
http://www.edmstudio.com futnuh

Here’s the text accompanying the YouTube video,

“A Motorist who Lit himself and his car on fire after playing with a lighter while filling up his tank with petrol at an ACPO station in Thomastown was saved by a doctor from fuel station fire.The incident, captured on CCTV video footage, shows the panicked motorist quickly escape the blaze as it engulfs the door of his vehicle.
Mr Zaini, who was filling up his car nearby, runs over to help put out the flames by throwing a bucket of water over the splashed petrol.
Meanwhile, a quick-thinking attendant shuts down the pump.
Station operator Suzy Eid, who was not working at the time but watched the drama unfold on video, told Seven News: “I thought it was common knowledge that nobody would light a flame next to a petrol pump while filling up. Why anyone would do something like that is just beyond me.
“He’s not only endangered himself, but it was a danger to all of us. He could have done some severe damage.”
Both Ms Eid and fire brigade officials have praised the bravery of Mr Zaini.
Melbourne Fire Brigade Deputy Chief Robert Taylor said: “I think he’s had a fantastic presence of mind.
“He has recognised the danger of the situation…his bravery is to be commended.”
Fire officials say the incident should serve as a lesson to us all as those involved were just seconds from a potential disaster.
They say the scenario would have been very different if more than a film of petrol had been spilled on the concrete because the doctor could have been engulfed.
- Boundegar
  
  The thing about “common knowledge” is that it is neither common nor knowledge. Wait, that’s not how it goes…
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XDXCHOC3MSV5MBEOPV76POG7EE Jonathan

When I lived in South Alabama, a friend and I pulled into a gas station in Mobile. At the next pump was a car, with a woman inside, smoking. Her husband, who was pumping the gas, was also smoking. We decided to pay the 10 cents a gallon more at the station across the road.
- Navin_Johnson
  
  I have sadly witnessed similar scenes in Chicago a number of times.
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  I friend of mine observed a guy trying to start his car. The engine was clearly on fire, there was smoke everywhere, but he kept turning the engine over and pumping fuel into it.
- Ultan
  
  Far less dangerous than a spark or open flame. Most of the time you can put a cigarette out in gasoline. If the vapors are at the right concentration, you may get a fire, but such a concentration of vapors will make it difficult to breathe at all, let alone smoke. Cigarettes are much lower temperature than flames or sparks. With diesel or kerosine there is no danger at all from cigarettes.
lesbianjesus

I propose that your skill level in say “Car door jumping” increases
proportionately depending on what you just set on fire while playing
with your cigarette lighter.
Mitchell Glaser

They should seize his car and take away his license permanently. Nobody that stupid should be allowed to drive. Or breed.
SomeGuyNamedMark

I hate to see someone’s business get damaged but please don’t interfere with evolution folks.
RedMonkey

When I was in University I worked at a gas station part time, all I really had to do was turn on the pumps and not get robbed – one part of the job was to turn off the pump if I saw someone do this, or try to pump gas with a lit cigarette; I had to turn off the pump at least once a shift to deal with the lit cigarette people – and they were always pissed that I did it.
i_r_beej

“I’ll just go ahead and put this over here with the rest of the fire.”
Gary61

click click BOOM !!!!
(copyright by GODSMACK)
- geoelectric
  
  Saliva will be surprised to hear their song was a cover. :)
  - http://www.openbuddha.com/ Al Billings
    
    You’re sure Jello didn’t sing it first?
MonkeyBoy

It didn’t look to me like he was playing with a lighter.

Instead he reached into the car for a lighter and from habit flicked it to make sure it was a working lighter.

The whole purpose of habits is that you don’t have to think about them – which makes it hard to notice situations where you should think.
- http://twitter.com/Polackio Matt Popke
  
  I guess that explains the smoking habit too. Except there are no situations when you shouldn’t think twice about that one.
- Will Bueche
  
  Agreed. Looks like he was pumping gas, noticed a lighter on the floor of his car in the backseat, opened the door, took it, and flicked it to test if it was still a good lighter. And it was!
http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt

What I don’t quite get is why jump over the car door when it obviously would have been easier to back away? That right there should earn the guy some extra stupid points.
- retepslluerb
  
  I think his first reflex was to drive away, then he realised that this wasn’t the smartest idea.
  
  Edit: Upon rewatching I retract this. Guess he was a little panicky.
  
  Also, he looked reasonably fit to me, this may actually gave been the fastest way for him to get away.
  - http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
    
    Also: he was on the passenger side of the car (we drive on the left here in Australia) so he was actually a long way from the controls.
    - retepslluerb
      
      Ah yes, I can see the steering wheel on the right side of the car.
      
      Should have watched more closely, but I think I’ve never seen a driver opening the passenger door when filling up his car.
http://profile.yahoo.com/6NEQ2TLUEGCGEOQKVCHC4QVDGM Glenn

Two hours of posts and nobody’s said it yet?…

Christ, what an asshole!
- mbourgon
  
  Several more hours and nobody said this?
  
  “needs more Yakety Sax”
zaba

In addition to the fire extinguisher, it looks like there is an emergency cut-off for the gas on the front of the pillar (look at the sign at about 0:53). After he made his “heroic” jump over the car door, he could have hit that and all would be well.
- CLamb
  
  As well as a sign that says, “SMOKING PROHIBITED”.
howaboutthisdangit

Wears a hoodie shirt because he thinks he looks cool. Plays with his lighter because he thinks he looks cool.

Runs pissing and squealing away like a 3-year old. Not cool.
http://twitter.com/TinyHouseUK Custom Built Surrey

WAD.
What A Dick
pjcamp

The best part is when the Uh Oh Squad wanders in from the right.
http://twitter.com/matcatastrophe mat catastrophe

Once again, a video that gives people the opportunity to talk about the “Darwin Awards” and thereby demonstrate their absolute lack of knowledge about evolutionary biology.

And you call other people “stupid”.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Has anyone ever mentioned to you that you complain constantly?
  - http://twitter.com/matcatastrophe mat catastrophe
    
    No, probably because I don’t (*). You only notice it because you want to notice it. Sort of an availability heuristic or something.
    
    (*) I reserve three percent of my total output online to happy thoughts.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_33BOPH3OIQRHXN5QZ7Y2KUZ4VM chris

I once saw a young man flicking a lighter a few times at the open filler tube of his car at a gas station. He would flick the lighter and peer down the hole. I yelled at him to stop and told him that gas vapors are more flammable than liquid gas ect,. Then I asked why he was doing that and he told me he wanted to see how much gas was in the tank. At least he didn’t burn his face off that day.
CLamb

The danger of fire is why the state of New Jersey prohibits self-service gasoline.