PETROL VAPOUR PERIL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 290, 6 December 1929, Page 7

PETROL VAPOUR PERIL

GIRL BURNED TO DEATH GAS STOVE IGNITES FUMES The danger of using petrol for clean, ing clothes was emphasised by Mi Douglas Cowburn, the Coroner, at at inquest at Brixton, England, recently on Miss Grace Carncll Hellings, agec 34, a telephonist, of Lilford Road,. Camberwell. It was stated that the 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 Hcllington, a sister said the dead woman was cleaning & coat in the backyard. Suddenly she was enveloped in flames and her clothing was almost burned off. There was a gas-stove in the kitchen about 9ft. away from the petrol, but the gas was turned low. Ernest Dowsett, 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 gas stove it would ignite. If one has only four per cent, of petrol vapour in the air there will exist a high, ly dangerous area. “Petrol is very dangerous to use in a house, even in small quantities. The practice of using petrol for cleaning clothes ought to be discouraged. Nothing may happen in 99 cases, but at the hundredth time there is a disaster. People 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 warn* ing from that deplorable case of the danger of using petrol in such a way