A college student was pumping gas into his sports utility vehicle near New Paltz, N.Y., recently when he flipped open his cell phone to answer a call, and suddenly found himself surrounded by flames."The next thing you know, he said, he saw this big ball of fire," New Paltz Fire Chief Patrick Koch said. A worker triggered the emergency fire suppression system, which put out the fire, and SUNY New Paltz student Matthew Erhorn received only minor burns, though his phone was charred by the flames.Firefighters concluded Erhorn's cell phone ignited vapors coming from the car's fuel tank as it was being filled."Cell phones can ignite gas fumes coming from the pump and cause a disaster,"said Koch after the incidentBut are the nation's 158 million cell phone users at risk if they don't hang up while they fill up their gas tanks? Although signs at gas stations warn against cell phone use, experts and a Good Morning America experiment cast doubt on the theory that cell phones can cause fires at the gas pump.Is Static Electricity the Culprit?Experts believe that it was static electricity — not the cell phone — that caused the fire. Static fires at the pumps are rare events, but they do happen. The Petroleum Equipment Institute reports on its Web site it has counted 158 reports to date of gas pump fires attributed to static electricity.Static electricity ignited a gas station fire captured by security cameras in San Antonio, Texas, in November 2002. The customer pumping gas was badly burned,but survived. Static is also suspected in a 1996 fireball at a Tulsa, Okla., gas pump that killed a 33-year-old woman.Steve Fowler, an electrical engineer from Fowler Associates, says cell phone signals are far too weak to ignite even explosive gasoline fumes. He and Jim Farr, a fire marshal from Gaston County, N.C., study static fire and say your body can build up a static charge in different ways, such as getting in and out of a vehicle."When you scuff your feet on the carpet, you can get up to 35,000 volts," Fowler said. "In a car situation we have seen as high as 60,000 volts."That voltage is enough to catch gas fumes on fire, Fowler said. As for a cell phone — or cell phone battery — sparking a fire, Fowler and Farr say that it is theoretically possible but not probable.No Documented ConnectionWith the help of professional firefighters from the Bergen County, N.J., fire academy, Good Morning America put the question to the test. A firefighter in full protective gear stood next to a bucket full of gas, holding a cell phone. When the cell phone rang, observers braced for a spark, but nothing happened. GMA tried a different cell phone and stirred the gas to create more fumes, but still there was no fire.No one who GMA talked to is aware of a single documented case of a cell phone starting a fire at a gas pump. But Koch still believes it is possible."I believe that it can happen, and it probably could happen again," Koch said."At first I really did not believe it, but now after seeing what happened the other day, I truly do believe a cell phone can ignite the gas fumes from a gas pump."The chief says there should be more testing done on cell phones and gasoline fumes.Many gas stations have warnings posted to turn off your cell phone, but the cell phone industry says it is because gas stations bought into the myth and slapped up the stickers without looking at the facts. The industry cites two studies that conclude there is virtually no evidence that cell phones are a hazard around gasoline.Tips to Avoid Static Fires1. Do not get back in your car until you are finished pumping gas.2. When you get out to pump gas, get rid of any static charge before you reach for the pump. That could be as simple as tapping the metal top of your car with your bare hand.3. Experts say if a fire does start, never take the gas nozzle out of your car. That is the surest way to turn a bad situation into a tragedy. Everyone who has been hurt, injured, or has been killed, has pulled that nozzle out.4. Never fill portable containers in or on a vehicle. Instead, put them on the ground. Like a person, a container can also become statically charged. If the earth's not there to absorb the voltage, the can itself may spark.

https://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/cell-phone-gas-station-minimyth

please call the mods

tell dem ooh we Africans easily biliv superstitious fallacy

Myth busters have don d same experiment... Nigerians bring up theories on event they can't explain.

omo dis gas thing dey fear me wella.. it b like say na to dey fil up my gas from retailers go beta pass dan goin to gas station like juhel and co.

I read extensively on this subject[even this particular article] last night and after every thing I still feel the best bet and option is to put the darned gadgets away until you are totally done with the gas pump. The whole technicality about "static electricity"...

Must you now compress every word n sentence so they won't explode nairaland?

Oh my god!! Not again this topic...

I don't think there is any scientific evidence. If there was, we wouldn't be allowed with cellphones in gas stations. The same as we are not allowed with cigarettes because as evidence proved it, playing with lighted cigarettes around a gas station can cause an explosion.

mansakhalifa:
I read extensively on this subject[even this particular article] last night and after every thing I still feel the best bet and option is to put the darned gadgets away until you are totally done with the gas pump. The whole technicality about "static electricity"...

Static electricity is real,especially this dry Harmatan period..I have had experience of being stunned by a window metal protector, I was shocked..(pun intended).

This experiment was done with world class genuine phones.

Remember what we have here is "chinko" phones. I met a woman with injuries in a phone service station whose new phone of less than one month[brand withheld], exploded on her palms.

Do not rely on this writeup and expose yourself to a life threatening hazard.

Being over precauteous doesn't harm. Stay safe and stay alive.!

donbenie:
Static electricity is real especially this dry Harmatan period,I have had experience of being stunned by a window metal protector I was shocked (pun intended).

Yours is better compared to my case where even bedsheet can shock me..

Safety precautions help to save alot

E dey always pain me each time I dey watch Nigeria movie, husband and wife go get small misunderstanding, then the husband go just throw two Ghana-Must-Go bag come out, dey tell the wife "Leave my house, I say you must leave my house today"
.
Just two Ghana-Must-Go bag for christ sake..... E show say the wife no dey contribute anything for that house at all
.
I dey always advice women..... If your husband buy home theater, then make you buy 55 inch plasma........ If him buy air conditioner, make you buy double door refrigerator....... If him buy foam, make you try buy bed.... Let it look like a competition
.
If you dey follow your husband buy properties.... Before him go open mouth tell you say leave my house... Him go think am well well
.
Even if him get mind throw your things out...... By the time him throw out your 55 inch plasma, your double door fridge, your bed, your center table, your gas cooker, your raid insect killer, tooth brush wey you buy for him and the comb wey him take dey comb hair......Nothing go remain inside the house again
.
Your husband sef go hail when neighbors begin gather dey quarrel with am say "Haba papa Nkechi..... So as all of us play reach for this street, you no even fit tell any of us say una wan pack"
.
Na your husband go come dey explain "Neighbors, no be pack I dey pack o... Na my wife I dey pursue comot"
.
Then neighbors go begin scream "Aaaah!.... Papa Nkechi, so you mean say na pursue you dey pursue your wife and your house don already dey empty like this..... You better call her back and beg her before your life too becomes empty
.
Lolzz
.
But then..... Women.... Respect your husbands.... No matter wetin you dey contribute for the house
.
Complement Of The season ooooo!!

Most times I turn off my Tecno device before I get to the gas station

wave from phone is too small to trigger gas esplossion in open air or ventilated area,rather being around the gadget and others increases ESD which if you transfer it to a highly flammable substance you get a kaboom!

for instance answering call and handling the pump matching nuzzle in a petrol station,.even touching your car body while handling the nuzzle in certain environmental condition can do that.

in all it boils down to ESD and the things that increases it then how to reduce it