PETROL VAPOUR PERIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20426, 30 November 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

PETROL VAPOUR PERIL.

GIRL BURNED TO DEATH.

CAS STOVE IGNITES FUMES.

The danger of using petrol for cleaning clothes was emphasised by ]Mr. Douglas Cowburn, the coroner, at an inquest at Brixton, England, recently on Miss Grace Oarnell Hellings, aged 34, a telephonist, of Lilford Road, Camberwcll. It was stated that she was burned while cleaning a coat with a gallon of petrol in a bath. Her father and mother were both severely injured in trying to smother the flames.

Alice Hellings, a sister, said the dead woman was cleaning a coat in the backyard. Suddenly she was enveloped in flames and her clothing was almost burned off. There was a gas-stove alight in the kitchen about 9ft. away from the petrol, but the gas was turned low. Ernest Dowsctf, a fire brigade officer, said it was highly dangerous to use such a large quantity of petrol for cleaning. The petrol vapour sank to the ground and might be blown anywhere by a draught. Mr. Howard Cole, an L.C.C. Inspector of Explosives, said:

Petrol vapours float about readily, and the moment the vapour reached the gasstove it would ignite. If one has only 4 per cent. of. petrol vapour in the air there will exist a liiglily dangerous area. I'ctrol is very dangerous to use in a house, even in small quantities. , The practice of using petrol for cleaning clothes ought to bo discouraged. Nothing may happen in 99 cases, but at the liun-' dredth time there is a disaster. Peoplo using it are apt to be careless and forget when there are lights about. In recording a verdict of death by misadventure, Mr. Cowburn said that to use a gallon of petrol near a light from the gas-stove could only bo described as a rash and hazardous undertaking. He' hoped the public would take warning flom that deplorable case of the danger of using petrol iu such a way.