Cell Phones and Gas Station Fires: Myth or Truth?

Cells phones have long been rumored to ignite fires at gas stations. And this despite the fact that there has been no documented case of this ever happening. To find out if there’s any substance to the rumors, read on…

The popular belief that using a mobile phone in the forecourt of a gas station can ignite a fire is a myth. This is the emerging truth after quite a few tests and researches were conducted in different parts of the globe.

One of the researches conducted in 2005 was headed by Dr Adam Burgess, of the University of Kent, which found that out of 243 gas station fires attributed to cellular phones around the globe in the last 11 years, not one was actually caused by a cell phone. "Even on an oil rig, the only real reason not to use a mobile is because of the issue of distraction," said Burgess and claimed that even a lit-cigarette was not enough to put petrol on fire, let alone the small current of a mobile phone.

Popular Verdict
And if the verdict of just one group of researchers is not credible enough, there are others. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, looking at 243 gas station fires worldwide, happening in the 11 years between 1993 and 2004, gave the cellular phone all clear. Ditto for the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association.

And Robert Renkes, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, settled the matter once and for all saying, “We have not found a cell phone responsible for any fire since the beginning of mankind.” Also, the popular US TV show – Mythbusters proved this fact after failing miserably to cause an explosion in a chamber full of petrol vapor with the help of a cell phone.

What Set off the Fires Then?
So what triggered those 243 petrol station fires, if not cell phones? Finding the causes behind all those explosions will be wishful thinking but majority of the times, static electricity was found to be the cause. The University of Kent researchers hold static electricity from the body responsible for majority of the fires.

BP's fire safety officer, Richard Coates, also found that many fires took place because of static electricity passing from human body. All of us experience these sparks from clothes, especially synthetic clothes. Human body can build up considerable static charge. Unfortunately, if the earth wire on the petrol hose is damaged, you can discharge a visible spark when the metal nozzle of the hose touches the metal neck of the petrol tank.

The Possibilities of Cellular Phone Induced Fires
Theoretically, it is possible to cause an explosion with a cell phone. For a spark to ignite petrol spray, the amount of energy needed is just 0.2 mJ, and a cell phone battery stores five-million times that much energy. If only the cell phones were designed to produce sparks, which they are not!

And if battery is the culprit part in a cell phone, shouldn’t you be worried about batteries in your CD player, torch, iPod etc? And what about the biggest battery of them all; the car battery sitting under the hood?

Secondly, some kind of electric current is supposed to originate from a cell phone when you use it that could possibly ignite the petrol vapors. Cell phones do produce sparks but they are too small to cause a gas station fire.

A Case of Gullible Public
Reports are contradictory and constructive information hard to come by. In an uncertain scenario like this, reports of gas station fires due to cell phones don’t fail to register in the public psyche; some unfortunate driver in Indonesia, a gas station customer in Adelaide, Australia. Give a few more incidents in Taiwan and another case in China and that just about completes the picture for the gullible public. The fault with these reports, rumors rather, is that their primary source has been the Internet.

Phone Manufacturers and Petrol Stations Adding Fuel to Fire
Mobile Manufacturers say that there is a risk. Motorola, Ericsson, and Nokia, all caution in their user manual against using mobile phones in gas stations.

Shell International says in its policy statement: "we do not allow them [cell phones] to be used on the forecourt of a service station in case an electronic fault in the phone causes a spark." In 1999, American mobile giant ‘Exxon Corporation’ began placing ‘warning stickers’ at its gasoline stations across US.

The Reason Companies Play Along
The cell phone manufacturers warn against using phones in gas stations primarily for two reasons. Firstly, cellular phones are not manufactured keeping ‘Intrinsic Safety’ in mind so that they can run safely around highly inflammable vapor sites.

Secondly, companies are apprehensive of legal liability in spite of the fact that tons of evidence proves that cell phones have nothing to do with fires in gas stations. By cautioning customers against gas fires, companies can evade costly lawsuits.

Harpreet Bhagrath

The writer is the Chief Editor at themoneytimes.com and can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected]