Trying to beat the high cost of gasoline, a couple in Dartmouth, MA. inadvertently started a fire in their apartment complex when 45 gallons of their hoarded gasoline ignited. They were storing the gas in plastic jugs inside a closet which also contained an air-conditioner unit. [AP]
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Great idea!
What a bunch of geniuses!
Darwin award candidate...
I'm all for Darwinism, but for chrissake there were other people in that complex. They should lose their apartment resident license. There's likely no such thing, so the government should issue them one so they can revoke it!
I have a friend that hoards gasoline. At least he does it in his garage... and remembers to vent the jugs every couple of days... and has an exhaust fan...
Morons.
They should have considered participating in a fuel bank (lock in price) instead, if available.
This is retarded on so many levels. Safety hazards aside, you really don't want to make a habit of using old gas. I suppose they might have been rotating the oldest fuel out regularly - but honestly, given the story, I'm not willing to give them that much credit...
I wonder how much of that gasoline was siphoned from their neighbor's vehicles.
I guess this was inevitable. Oh well, it's a useful object lesson if nothing else.
As people continue to buy gas generators for emergencies, this is going to be on the increase. I live in a small apartment and I don't have the room to store a gas generator, and in an emergency I'd have to sit it outside anyway (exhaust fumes), and someone would steal it.
I have a rechargeable generator called the Freeplay Weza that is also chargeable using human (foot) power, so you get more than just one stored charge out of it, unlike those "generators" that are just storage batteries. Link to the company: [www.freeplayenergy.com] I got mine for under 200 dollars shipped, so shop around.
Wow. That's why I don't live in apartments anymore.
@Jesse: These people stored gasoline inside of their apartment in plastic jugs. Do you really think "fuel bank" is even in they're vocabulary. You are asking a first grader to use a slide rule. Your post has got to be one of the most useless I have ever read. We should thank this couple for blowing themselves up. What if they would have conceived. Yikes. Evolutionary devaluation could be the only outcome.
This makes me wonder what my neighbors are doing in MY apartment complex. I shudder to think.
So they were hoarding 45 gallons? Assume something catastrophic happened tomorrow, like say David Ortiz hurt his wrist, (zing!) and the price of gas went up $2 a gallon. They would have saved (quick math) $90. Gee, that totally seems worth the time, effort, and risk!
Anyone care to bet that their cable bill is more than $90 a month?
Also, please make my day and tell me they were both smokers.
I hope this story makes my neighbors more tolerant when I play music loud on the weekends.
Oh god. I bet they were using the air conditioner to make sure the gas didn't get too hot!! God that's almost brilliant.
Hoarding fuel is a criminal offence in the UK, for good reason.
@Trai_Dep
I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Why do you play music loud if it annoys your neighbours? Are you some kind of selfish sociopath?
Facepalm......
Oh dear god this happened in my neck of the woods.
Yeah, these two bright bulbs were doing exactly what the article stated. Now 8 other families besides these two no longer have a place to live. I simply cannot believe noone was killed.
Eight other families? My. Gawd. That's just... Tragic.
Miraculous that no one was killed/maimed by this couple.
A story from where I live! I live 10 mins down the road.. heard about it on the news this morning.
damnit, they live down the street from where I grew up, giving Dartmouth a great name.
That's a "lower income" housing complex, so go figure.
@timmus Actually, Dallas is considering implementing a renters license to keep illegal immigrants from renting. The license will require proof of citizenship.
Irony! Kind of...lolz. Common sense is useful for a "great idea" like this.....XD
I actually read my mortgage (apparently unlike a large chunk of the US). Buried in there is a specific clause prohibiting storing any quantity fuels and other flammable liquids on the property. Fortunately I use a reel lawn mower, so I don't even own a gas can and didn't bother to ask where they draw the line. It does make me wonder about my redneck neighbors with a barrel of gas for his race car in his garage, and my hippy neighbors who brew their own biodiesel.
@backbroken: Eh, the real catastrophe would be Manny Being Enraged Ballplayer Throwing Punches At Teammate Who's Not Named Manny. :\
@drjayphd: There's at least a 50/50 chance that Manny thought Youkilis was a guy from the other team and that the brawl was still going on.
Here's your sign