Gas Tank Vapor: A Silent, Invisible Threat

The potentially deadly practice of storing motorcycles and other gasoline-powered vehicles and appliances indoors is widely known to Orange County fire departments.

The heavier-than-air vapors given off by gasoline--even the residual fumes from an otherwise empty gas tank--pose a silent, invisible threat as they flow over the floor threatening to ignite on contact with a pilot light or other open flame.

Such is believed to have been the case Friday when an Anaheim woman and her 4-year-old daughter were killed in an explosion and fire that authorities say was touched off by fumes reaching a gas stove from a motorcycle parked in the family’s dining room.

“The danger of putting any vehicle or storing flammable liquid in living units is tremendous,” Garden Grove Fire Marshal Lon Cahill said. “People are not aware of the danger.

“It’s patently unwise to bring a motorcycle indoors because of the flammable liquid in the gasoline tank,” he said. “Even if people say they drain all the liquid out of it, there’s still vapor.”

It is the vapor, not the liquid, that ignites on contact with flame or spark, authorities pointed out in interviews Friday.

“Some people may feel insecure about leaving a motorcycle in a carport, but it’s very ill-advised to bring it in your living unit for security,” Cahill said.

Fire department officials contacted Friday had differing views on whether their local versions of the Uniform Fire Code strictly prohibit keeping vehicles, such as motorcycles, inside a dwelling. But they all agreed that the practice can have--and indeed over the years, has had--deadly consequences.

Regardless of whether the practice is barred by fire laws, said Capt. Mark Reinhold, Orange County Fire Deparment spokesman, building codes prohibit storage of vehicles inside dwellings.

The problem, however, is not in outlawing the practice, fire officials said, but making it clear to the public how dangerous it can be.

In addition, Buena Park Fire Marshal Jim Zimmer said, fire officials who receive complaints from neighbors about dangerous gasoline storage in homes “can’t enter (a private home) without a search warrant.”

“There’s really no way to control it,” Zimmer said. “If we got a complaint about storing an excessive amount even in a garage, we’d have to get a search warrant.”

Huntington Beach Fire Chief Raymond Picard said his department draws on an “umbrella provision” of law that allows fire officials to use discretion in determining what constitutes a fire hazard.

In 1984, according to Huntington Beach Deputy Fire Marshal Jerry Abshier, on about six occasions landlords or apartment managers complained to fire departments that tenants were storing vehicles indoors.

In each case, Abshier said, “verbal notices” by the department persuaded the residents to remove the vehicles.

Fullerton Fire Chief Ron Coleman said that in his 20 years as a firefighter he has seen “several cases similar” to Friday’s fatal explosion and fire in Anaheim. He said residents often store “everything from go-carts, outboard motors” and other gasoline-engine vehicles indoors.

“You always have the potential for vapor drift,” Coleman said.

Santa Ana Fire Battalion Chief Richard Keller added, “This really emphasizes the fact that flammable liquids of any kind are not to be taken lightly.

“The minute you take them lightly, you’re in trouble.”