Photos: Fire at Clairmont @ N. Decatur Chevron Gas Station This Afternoon
Decatur Metro | October 3, 2014 | 4:29 pm
Jane sends along these pics and reports…
This afternoon, shortly before 3:00, a fire broke out at the Chevron station at North Decatur and Clairmont Roads. Reports were that a car had driven away with the pump nozzle still in the gas tank. The hose snapped, and a fire started almost immediately. It looked like Dekalb County sent every fire truck in the area, along with EMS. Two City of Decatur trunks responded early, but left as Dekalb County began to arrive in force. There were no immediate reports of injury. The fire was extinguished within ten minutes of fire department arrival. Traffic, of course, was snarled.
I drove by just after it happened (before the DCFD got there) and there were lots of people standing around videoing with their phones. I sped up to get out of there because I wouldn’t look good melted.
Very wise. My first thought on skimming this post was that fire + gasoline = KABOOM.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-HYj5cLfEI?rel=0&w=560&h=315%5D
Oh, Tippy, if only he had listened!
The hoses have tear away connections to allow for a car to drive away and be ripped off. It also re-seals to prevent gas flow.
This pump was completely pushed off foundation and is still laying on the ground on its side. Either the tear away connection failed or someone rammed the pump and pushed it over.
The fire could have been extinguished immediately if the Chevron was prepared for such a thing. Instead everyone watched as the fire burned bigger and hotter until the fire dept came with handheld fire extinguishers and put out the fire.
Anyway, no gas for sale until…….?
I was in the shopping center across the street when this happened. We watched as a man slipped between the fire and his truck to save his truck. A minute or two afterward there was a big boom sound like a small explosion. Several minutes passed between the first explosion and a 2nd smaller one. While all this was happening we watched four ambulances and EMS units show up (several minutes apart) before the first fire truck arrived. I’d say from the time we noticed the fire until the first fire truck arrived it was 10 minutes. Another person puts it at 20 minutes. I have to say I was surprised that it took so long considering it was a gas station fire.