fission mailed

Perhaps they got the plastic containers from Walmart?

@Bakkster_Man: No, they were extremely stupid no matter where they shopped.

This sucks because I also live in an 8 unit apartment.

Stored next to the water heater?? WITH RAGS SITTING ON TOP??? Jezuz, what kind of mouth breathing morons were these?

@Candyman: They probably put the rags on top thinking it would smother the fumes giving their apartment that gasoline odour.

And this is why you are supposed to use certified metal tanks to store gas for long periods (even though gas does tend to expire...)

@donkeyjote: And not store gas next to ignition sources, nor inside a closet

@Candyman: Yeah, I love that part. As if storing multiple jugs of gas inside rented property wasn't already bad enough.

I think I know somebody who's getting served with a lawsuit from their landlord's insurance company.

I had a moron that lived next door to me that nearly torched our 8-unit building. He had a furniture-oil rag under his sink, with the oil bottle on top of it. Classic spontaneous combustion setup. He had no idea that storing oily rags like that was dangerous - and he was the Manager of a paint store!

@Televiper: This sucks because I also live in an 8 unit apartment.

Having lived in a complex where the apartment next door burned to the ground (see awesome fire photo) but left mine untouched except for some smoke damage, I'm tempted to think that modern apartments are designed to contain fires.

I don't know if unit isolation is a part of fire code, but that building had solid concrete separating the units. The apartment below the fire only had minimal water damage, which was mitigated because the fire department laid tarps downstairs to protect that person's stuff.

Oh, and sign up for renter's insurance. It's really cheap. I pay something like $5/month for $10000 of coverage.

And here are some after photos for the curious. Everyone got out fine; the cause was a smoldering cigarette from a drunk girlfriend (the only smoker) on a bean-bag chair.

Lastly, as for the question "am I safe if the unit next door bursts into flames", I suggest checking with your landlord about the construction. It's good info to know.

(please accept my sincerest apologies for the multipost)

were the rags soaked in linseed oil?

Doesn't everyone get one "oops" moment?

@Phas3Sh1ft: This counts for at least 4.5 oops-es

Next bizarre gasoline-related story you run, use a frame from the Road Warrior for the picture.

All I want to know is how the Fire Department can tell that there were rags sitting on top of the gas containers.

...unless the buyers of the gas admitted to that, there would be no way of realizing, since the rags would burn up.

@levenhopper: I don't know what I'm talking about, but if it was the rags that caught fire and then the canisters exploded, I'm of the impression fire investigators can identify that sort of sequence of events.

@Michael Belisle: Oh wait, the jugs did not explode. So yeah, they can tell that there were rags then.

I actually feel sorry for this couple (and of course their poor neighbors too). There was a Science Channel program called "What if the Oil Ran Out?" The show focused on how people would react to a severe gas shortage and high price spikes in whatever gas was still available. People were stockpiling as much gas as they could at home under armed guard. The idea of hoarding gas is not unreasonable but was flawed in this couple's execution.

Inevitable failure is what happens when: An Idea Occurs to Good People Who Don't Google. If the couple had just used my dear friend and yours, Google, and searched for the terms: "storing gasoline at home," clicking on the very first search result would have told them everything they needed to know to prevent their inevitable disaster:

How many times have you seen people pumping gasoline into milk jugs and the like and then putting it in the trunk of the car or the back of the truck to haul it home? Have you ever wondered how they make it home without setting the vehicle on fire, or how they keep the house from burning days later when the fuel expands, possibly rupturing the jug or blowing the top off? Milk jugs, anti-freeze jugs, glass containers and many 'gas cans' are not suitable for carrying or storing gasoline.

Many of us must store some gasoline around our homes to operate lawnmowers, tillers, chainsaws and so on. But if stored improperly, a fire or explosion could result, destroying the house and causing injury or death. Gasoline is a product designed to fuel internal combustion engines. It is a highly volatile liquid, and its vapors can be ignited easily by a spark, flame or other hot object. When mixed with air in the right proportions, the vapor of one cup of gasoline has the explosive power of about five pounds of dynamite, enough destructive force to destroy any house or car.

Storing gasoline and other highly flammable liquids at home is also dangerous if not done properly. The best way to store gasoline is in a well ventilated area separate from the house. The location should have no electrical equipment, open flames or other sources of ignition present. In addition, the location should be protected from the heat of the summer sun to keep evaporation to a minimum.

Do not store gasoline in the basement of your home or in the utility room. The furnace, water heater, clothes dryer or any of several other items could ignite fumes which may leak from the can and travel considerable distances.

What is the lessoned learned here? You don't know everything...but Google does.

Gasoline has volatiles. They're what is responsible for making it ignite in your car engine. So, when they evaporate, the remaining liquid will suck as gasoline even if the volatile flammable fumes don't make you go "Boom."

I honestly thought everybody knew about this. Hasn't everyone had to start a lawnmower at some point? That's why old gas sucks in lawnmowers.

I'm tickled by the fact that they "protected" the fuel-bombs by covering them with rags. As in, "If it's harder to see them then it's got to be safer. Right?"
Shudder.
No sympathies. I hope seven tenants' insurance companies and the owner's land on them like a ton of black-hole density bricks and ensure that they never are able to cash a check in the United States again.
Jeezus. It makes me nostalgic for the crack dealer I had for a downstairs neighbor - gunfire included free! - was relatively responsible. Well, irresponsible, but he hosted great parties.

The 15 neighbors that shared the building with them were rightly pissed off.

oxygen thieves

Since a 5 gallon gas can cost like $30 buck these folks were investing $10 a gallon to hedge against price increases. Wow thats dumb

What bunch of fudging idiots. If they want to stockpile petro, they should have used better tanks.

I think I'd spontaneously come bust that idiot in the head.

Wow. Just wow.

I don't normally blame the victim but geez...how did these people even get to be their age without dying in some freak gasoline fight accident or something?

Reminds me of a story one of my teachers told me a few years ago.

This was during the era of 1.50$ gasoline so i really dont remember the details about the story. But it was about people in the 70s managing to do something fairly similar, stocking piling gas poorly, nothing good coming from it.

I live really close by to this story.

What they don't tell you is that the people who lived here were doctors! Aren't they supposed to have some kind of a brain and know better?

@Michael Belisle: I pay about $20 a month for the extreme comprehensive coverage. That's up to $35,000 even if there's no signs of forced entry (useful when you live in a basement apartment). It also covers damage I cause to other homes :)

@Ash78: HaHa!! Make another funny pleaseeeeeee.... ;)

The funny thing is that they really wouldn't have saved all that much money.

Let's say gas goes up by 50 cents over the next 6 months. That's only $22.50. I doubt that would even cover the cost of the 9 plastic jugs they used.

Unless you have a seriously large tank (500 gallons or more), it just isn't worth doing something like this.

it's $9.60 in England. the US still have it so cheap.

sadly, we're going to start seeing a lot more of this type of behavior. people who don't have a back up plan (read: bicycle) are going to start flipping out over the next year or so as gas reaches $6 and $7 a gallon. i suggest that everyone get a gun!

seems to me there may be a market for small consumer hedging programs LOL...

@Pasketti: Yeah, my first reaction was not "why weren't they more careful?" but "why the hell would you do this?". There is a mass hysteria about $4 gas, which I think scratches the same itch people had for Y2K and other perceived disasters before it. Sure, some folks are getting hit by increased gas prices (cf. the other gasoline story on Consumerist today), and we're all paying a little more for everything, but the media-amplified cries of doom and gloom are way out of proportion to the economic reality.

@Michael Belisle: it depends on the intensity of the fire, but if the building was constructed with firewalls (concrete, flame retardant drywall and non combustible insulation) then it can greatly reduce the risk of fire damage spreading.

@opsomath: Um, I'm actually one of those people who only recently learned that it's the fumes that make gasoline dangerous to handle. Reasons why I didn't know this: 1) My family uses an electric lawnmower; 2) post-high school, I've only lived in cities so I've never owned a car; 3) I've never made a Molotov cocktail (joking).

Which is to say, if you have asbestos-containing fire-rated drywall, your apartment will burn less or not at all. Don't breathe, though.

@AtomicPlayboy: Agreed. Stockpiling is a reasonable reaction if you expect shortages, but not if you only expect the price to go up a buck or two in the next year.

Epic fail

Dumbasses, I mean I get stockpiling in a sense, but still no reason to store a lot of gasoline in your apartment's unvented storage room.

Pardon me whilst I laugh uncontrollably.