PETROL PERIL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 236, 5 October 1937, Page 5

PETROL PERIL.

HIGH EXPLOSIVE.

TWO MEN INJURED.

FIRE CHIEFS WARNING.

HOUSEWIVES TAKE CARE.

(From Our Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 1. The other day a number of people working or wandering about the harbour foreshore near Shea's Creek received a startling example of the capacity of petrol to act as a high explosive. Workmen had just been cleaning out a great 13,000-gallon petrol container in a tanker moored to the wharf, and they had left not more than a gallon of liquid in the bottom. Going on to the wharf they began to draw in an electric light lead which they had been using. Apparently it wae imperfectly insulated and in the process of dragging acrose the deck it seeme to have emitted a spark. That was enough. There waa a loud explosion, the big steel tank buckled up as if it had been made of cardboard, and the two men who had been cleaning the tank and were then standing on the wharf were hurled into the air. They were unconscious when picked up and their eyebrows and hair had been singed off, and they were suffering badly from shock. They were rushed at once to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where they recovered speedily. Danger Signal. They had been most unpleasantly impressed with the urgency of the danger signal which is supposed to be hoisted wherever petrol is much in evidence. They had not believed that so small a quantity of the "juice" could express itself so powerfully, and their amazement wae shared by our Deputy

Chief Fire Brigade Officer, Mr. Beare, who was quickly 011 the spot when the alarm was given.

"I have never seen anything like it," he said. "The force exerted by such a small quantity of petrol was "astounding." Mr. Beare could only assume that a rare combination of circumstances had made everything "just right" for the explosion. "We know," he told a "Truth" reporter, "that a pint of evaporating petrol under certain circumstances has an explosive power 8£ times greater than a stick of dynamite, and one gallon of petrol fumes mixed with a proper proportion of air has an explosive power sufficient to lift 116,000,0001b upward." Thoroughly Disturbed. This means nearly 20,000 tons, and this estimate, if correct, is quite sufficient to account for the unpleasant experiences of the two men at Shea's Neck this week. So thoroughly disturbed was Mr. Beare by this accident, that he took petrol as the text for a large section of an address which he delivered to the Quota Club, later in the week. He reminded all representatives of homes and families who might be listening to him, that a gallon of cleaning petrol is equal in explosive power to 1361b of dynamite, and he urged housewives to be particularly careful of the stuff while using it. If clothes are washed in petrol, the work should be done in, the open air, but even there the process might be dangerous, as "the simple rubbing of silken garments could generate a spark and cause an explosion." Floor Mope, Too. "You may wash clothes in petrol," he said, "nine times out of ten with safety, but if you persist sooner or later there will be a disaster." Mr. Beare also mentioned incidentally that linseed oil floor mops, when placed in a cupboard after use, may cause serious trouble. When moist they are a prevalent source of spontaneous combustion, and these should be placed in the air until dry. Aa one of the responsible heads of our fire brigade services, Mr. Beare is naturally concerned about fires and their effect upon the public mind. In the course of this address he took occasion to congratulate the people of Sydney in their superiority to the feeling of panic which often seized upon large audiences and gatherings when buildings take fire.

Mr. Beare finds that under such circumstances Australian crowds behave exceptionally well. To strengthen our self-confidence he mentioned that our largest theatres are ho well provided with exits and escapes that a "full house" in any of them can be cleared in five minutes or less.

But with all his experience Mr. Beare is genuinely afraid of petrol, and he has done his best to inoculate us all with his apprehensions.