Fowler Associates Labs

Missouri Gas Station Suffers Underground Fire Caused
by Static Electricity and Gas Vapors

Paraphrased by:
Steve Waldrop
November 13, 2003

Kansas City, Missouri- A routine morning quickly turned tense when lids covering underground gas tanks blew off at the Quik Trip gas station located at North Brighton and Vivion Road.

Firefighters and police hurried to the scene of the explosion. No one was injured but a man narrowly missed being hit by a lid as it sailed passed him.

Reporters covering the story said that static electricity combined with gas fumes underground, created a combustible situation, and resulted in a underground flash fire.

Kansas City Fire Marshall's office spokesman, Tom Kievlan, said that "It's more common when it's raining like this, this time of the day and this kind of weather."

The station was closed for several hours while investigators searched and examined the damage caused by the flashfire.