Looks further than 20 ft to me.

argh!!!! now i'm going to have a freeze frame of the "tragic gas station accident" exploding gas pump/fireball from zoolander burned into my brain for the rest of the night. thanks!

Considering that a telephoto lens will always foreshorten the apparent distance, they don't appear to be all that close to the pumps. I think they ought to be smoking out back and not in front of the customers, but that's a whole nother story.

@Ryan Graf: Looks that way to me too.

I say goodness gracious great balls of fire!

@larrymac: I agree with you. You should never smoke in front of customers, no matter what. And especially not at a gas station. There are so many dumb people out there, I'm sure someone will see the staff have a smoke on a "safe distance", and light up as he/she pumps gas.

bottom line, the employees appear to have done nothing wrong. no story. to be perfectly honest though, cigarettes really aren't much of a threat to gas stations. i can't remember ever hearing of one blowing up due to smoking. i worked at a gas station while in high school and the owner dropped a lit cigarette butt down the gas nozzle and nothing happened due to its design. he just did it to scare me, which it did. i certainly wouldn't recommend trying this however.

Unless they were winding down after a gasoline fight, I doubt that a single cigarette could do much for a protected pump. Heck, Mythbusters disproved the ignition properties of a cigarette when they tested movie myths.

[mythbustersresults.com]

I do not care if they were 50 feet away. If I saw something like this I would never go back to that gas station again!

Don't want to be that guy or trying to blame the OP; but I will... using a camera or anything electronic outside of a insulated vehicle is also a risk activity; it can cause sparks that can cause combustion. This is why in a lot of places cell phones are also banned from use, as is getting in and out of your car (static causes sparks) esp. when it's cold outside.

You know, my boyfriend used to work at a Fast Trip, here in Missouri. He would smoke while he was at work, when he got the chance (he was usually the only one there), but he had to go away from where the pumps were...so, from the door, he had to take a right and hang out by the payphone, but still be to where he could keep an eye on the door, in case someone came in.

And that was store policy.

@intellivised: I meant getting BACK in your car and then getting out after you started pumping gas.

@craptastico: Yikes. Did you need therapy for PTSD after that? I would've crapped myself.

@craptastico:
I knew a guy who filled the tanks for gas stations, he did this all the time. He also did it to scare people.

@Mknzybsofh:
You've never seen someone smoking while they are filling up their tank? I see it all the time.

@Gmork:
The guy would also flip a lit cigarette into a puddle of gas, nothing would happen then either. The gas would actually put out the cigarette.

@Mknzybsofh:Then close your eyes when you go to gas stations, because this happens all the time. As long as the employees aren't smoking at the gas pumps, they're not really doing anything wrong.

I used to work at one called "amoco" back in the day. Usually the ruling was 20ft distance away from the pumps. Least that's what "amoco"'s policy was. Most typically went around to the side of the store and smoked. It was well over 35ft away.

Consumerist should get pics of the people who light up while pumping gas. I can guarantee there is many customers that do it than employees do. At the station I worked there were many people that would pull up, light up, and fill up. There was only 3-4 people in our store that smoked and they went to the side of the building to smoke.

@intellivised: You are crazy...there are no moving parts in a digital camera that could cause a spark, and the entire "don't use a cell phone at the gas station" is a load of garbage too.

And static has little to do with temperature, but humidity.

@intellivised: Regarding cell phones starting fires at gas stations - myth BUSTED.
[mythbustersresults.com]

Myth busters did a story on this.
The Myth: Can a cigarette light a pool of gas on fire?
Action/Results: The end of a lit cigarette is between 450-500 degrees F. Gasoline ignites between 500-540 degrees F. But, even though they drop, put, and even roll the cigarette in the gasoline, they can't get the gas to ignite.

Myth PLAUSIBLE, but not doable.

I've never seen it accomplished either.

@keepher:
Cigarettes won't light gasoline anyway, they don't burn hot enough. You can throw the cigarette in a puddle of gas and it will go right out... no matter what Hollywood wants you to believe. Unfortunately lawmakers do believe Hollywood. Oh, for the record cellphones won't cause an explosion either.

@intellivised: Electronic devices do not generate sparks big enough to ignite gasoline. http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

As several other posters have mentioned, cigarettes are not a big danger either as long as you are not actually involved in fueling.

Getting in and out of the car can charge you enough to spark if you touch the metal nozzle of the pump handle. That is why pump handles are usually covered in plastic or rubber. Also, if refilling a plastic gas can, place it on the ground. Don't leave it in the car on the carpet or in the bed of a truck with a bed liner.

Pretty sure I saw this on an episode of mythbusters. The gasoline puts out the cigarette since it burns at such a low temperature. They also put hundreds of cell phones in optimal ignition conditions and called them all at the same time... nothing happened.

Turns out, the most dangerous thing at a gas pump? women's underwear. When women get in and out of their cars to grab something the nylon fabrics brush together creating static electricity. when they reach for the nozzle without grounding themselves... KABOOM!!

Those signs you see at the gas pumps are just a legal CYA thing for the owners.

@intellivised: mythbusters tested the cell phone thing and didn't get any explosions but i've seen some other info on sparks from static and the data showed that younger people tend to have problems more with static at gas pumps because people who need to lean on the car while pumping gas discharge the static when they touch the car body - older people lean on the car more often.
no, sadly, i can't recall who did the study

@catastrophegirl - sometimes makes typos and doesn't care:

I believe it was a 'freak gasoline fight accident.' :-)

That picture is from the MGM Lights, Motors, Action! Stunt show. Should I be amazed or alarmed that I recognized it?

@TacoDave: ah, thanks. i was trying NOT to remember the movie too clearly.

Well, they are closer to the nozzles(the pumps, all three of them, are underground) than this jet was to this building:

@Mknzybsofh: Also avoid stations where there might be some static electricity and/or hot catalytic converters.

@Nathanael Dale Ries: one of the many reasons plain cotton is a better choice. better for the environment, [redacted due to grossness,] and doesn't get you blown up at the pump

@SybilDisobedience: Nah, at most, only about 2-3 gallons would "go up", as the nozzles/dispensers only store that much in them, and all three actual pumps are underground.

@Ryan Graf: Another stretch for news on the Consumerist. I'm starting to think they'll post anything.

@keepher:
Cigarettes won't ignite gasoline anyway, no matter what Hollywood wants to have us believe. Oh, neither will cellphones.

I work for a gas station company, but i've also seen employees smoke at the stations themselves. It happens, but they are never near the pumps. Normally they are right outside the door at night times. But mostly so they can be right there if a customer stops in. Should they smoke in front of customers, I don't think show. But was it wrong to smoke at a gas station, no assuming they are at least some distance from the pumps.

Oh, and I felt I had to re-tell this story that Sticks Calhoun told yesterday in a story about some guy huffing gas and running at a cop holding a container of it getting tazed and catching fire [gizmodo.com] :
This reminds me of something I saw the other day.

I was at a restaurant across the street from a gas station and some guy pulled up and started filling up his gas tank while smoking.

I thought for sure an attendant would come out and start yelling at him, but it was one of those gas stations that just have a little hut in the middle for the employee and he either didn't see or didn't care.

The whole time he's filling the tank up I'm waiting for some awesome, Michael Bay-level explosions (and wondering if I should move away from the window), but the guy finishes, and puts the gasoline nozzle up.

Buuuuuut he must have splashed a bit of gas on his sleeve, and then a bit of ash from his cigarette fell on it or something, because his arm burst into flames! He started jumping and waving his arm all around (completely ignoring "Stop, drop and roll)!

And that's when the cops showed up, and arrested him. For waving a firearm.

Citgo is indirectly owned by Hugo Chavez, btw.

@aja175:

wow, what a classy way to state your point!

Have you ever gotten back in your car or talked on a cell phone while fueling?
If so, you are violating the exact same fire code. Well, at least the International Fire Code adopted here in the state of Ohio where i work at a gas station.

@catastrophegirl - sometimes makes typos and doesn't care:

I would have thought the oldsters, rather than the youngsters, would have had more problem with static, especially in Florida...Polyester and all that...

@ringrose: Hey, if you want to use junk science to prove stuff, I remember they had a hell of a time getting gas to light with a cigarette: [mythbustersresults.com]

@Nathanael Dale Ries: See I'm right when I tell the wife she shouldn't wear panties when we go out!!!

I've seen someone in Alabama walk between two pumps with a lit cigarette in hand. I decided not to stop at that station.

@Aaron Kimmins: And how do you light your cigarettes? generally speaking, a match or lighter is fully capable.

@Aaron Kimmins: "Cigarettes won't ignite gasoline anyway, no matter what Hollywood wants to have us believe. Oh, neither will cellphones."

You realize it's not the liquid gasoline that is the immediate danger. It's the vapor. And a cigarette could very easily ignite a dense enough vapor cloud of the stuff. That said, why would anyone want to take the risk? I mean, I love to smoke too, but I somehow manage to muster the sheer strength of will to hold off for five minutes while I pump my gas to eliminate the risk of EXPLODING & DEATH. Kind of the same concept as not walking around in cougar territory with raw lamb chops tied to your legs.

Yes?

@HumungaCowabunga_GitEmSteveDave: that would have gotten me if i didn't know about the gas station laws in the state you live in. i met a grown woman once who didn't know how to pump gas for her rental car at disney because it was the first time she had ever left that state.

@catastrophegirl - sometimes makes typos and doesn't care: [i mean the beginning would have gotten me sucked into the story]

@Slottsherre: Actually, I worked briefly at a gas station. For security reasons, employees were *not* allowed to smoke anywhere but off to the side of the building. They had to be in front of the building at night.

If someone goes out for their five minute break (which can sometimes be all you get the whole 8 hours when you work in a small gas station like that) and if they get assaulted or mugged while on said break? Yeah, lawsuit. So, as much as it might displease you to see an employee smoking, they have a right to be there and be safe.

Also, that picture shows they are no where near the pumps. They're standing next to a car parked in front of the main building. The pumps are probably a good 15 - 20 feet away from them.