Another Darwin award finalist

[Phlorida]

I had to share this story from this morning's local paper.

PALM BAY — A man was burned over 60 percent of his body Sunday night when his fume-filled garage exploded so violently his neighbors said it sounded like “a train wreck” or “a car accident.”
The explosion occurred just after 7:15 p.m. in the 1300 block of Waffle Street SE, rattling residents of the residential lane off San Filippo Drive.
“A witness reported seeing his neighbor on fire and running out of the house,” said Yvonne Martinez, Palm Bay police spokeswoman.
“Family members of the man immediately fled the home and took the victim to the hospital,” Martinez said.
The victim was hospitalized and later airlifted to an Orlando burn center, she said.
Three other people were inside the home when the garage blew up, Martinez said. Damages were estimated at about $20,000.
“Fire investigators learned the victim was siphoning fuel out of a vehicle with a ‘shop-vac.’ The closed garage filled with vapor, and it’s believed a spark from the vacuum ignited,” Martinez said.
She did not have information on the victim’s identity or medical condition late Sunday.
Courtney Laliberte, 18, heard the explosion and tried to grab a garden hose.
“I ran around the side of my house, and I just see the whole garage on fire, the car and everything. It was crazy,” Laliberte said.
Another neighbor, George Xenakis, was tending his garden in his backyard and ran to help.
“It sounded like a train crash,” he said.

 

[BritLady]

Oh, dear, oh dear that's just plain awful, even I know you don't do that. 60% burns is terrible too, in spite of his stupidity I sincerely hope he recovers okay.

 

[dwna1a]

Wow! Kinda reminds me of the guy we had here that burned his home to the ground trying to kill a wasp with a lighter, that was my second year in the FD. I do hope he recovers well.

 

[Woody]

Wow! Kinda reminds me of the guy we had here that burned his home to the ground trying to kill a wasp with a lighter, that was my second year in the FD. I do hope he recovers well.

A couple yrs ago a young guy was breaking into summer home garages and sheds looking for gas. He lit up his lighter to see how much was in one container and burned the place down. They say while in court he was more embarrassed/apologetic by he's dumb move with the lighter than he was for being a thief.:smt043

 

[CV-23]

Sorry he got burned so bad but what the hell was he thinking? I've seen some pretty dumb stuff and ShopVac is made right here in town.....no explosions yet here in town, Mike.

 

[Air O'Nautical]

Makes me think how many times I've used my little shop vac to suck out the last little bit of water in the bilge.

Hum, leave a little water their or blow-up.......decisions, decisions......?

Really, the hatch will have been open for quite sometime when I get around to any shop vac action but, worth a thought.

Mark.

 

[sdarc]

My shop vac stayed on the dock and I used extensions to reach the bilge.
But using a vac to siphon gas?

 

[Trucky]

I had to borrow some gas for the weed eater form a neighbor recently. She hands me the gas can and says "We lost the gas cap a few weeks ago". In place of the gas cap was a few well soaked paper towels with the gas vapors literally oozing out. I pointed to the paper towels and asked her if she knew what you called that, she gave me the look that said what are you talking about. I said it's called a fuse.

We had a brief discussion about gasoline safety and fixed the missing cap problem in a safer way.

 

[Pachanga Boy]

yikes, I hope he recovers. reminds me of a news story a few years back locally where even the news anchor had trouble keeping a straight face when reporting how a guy blew himself up by trying to heat gasoline on his stove in winter, apparantly the guy was heating it in an effort to thaw a frozen fuel line on his car:wow: