Brighton Petrol Station Fire - c. 1993???

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baytram366 · #1 Post by **baytram366** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:39 pm

I remember a fire at the former Ampol Petrol Station sometime in 1993 (I think) on Brighton Road at Hove. Does anyone have anymore information about this fire and any photos from it? Just very interested in how it was caused and when it happened. Just remember being in my room when I was younger and seeing a huge cloud of black smoke over the Brighton area. Any help would be great

Prince George · #2 Post by **Prince George** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:54 pm

That fire was a terrific chance for us all to add the word BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) to our vocabulary. Oddly, I managed to find a reference to the fire from an "urban legends" site post about "mobile phones can start fires":

Richard Arrowsmith, our contact in Adelaide, queried the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service as to the cause of the 1993 petrol station explosion allegedly caused by a mobile phone. He received a prompt reply from Hazardous Substances Officer Gavin Dougherty, who stated that "at no time were mobile telephones suspected to be the cause of the fire." This was confirmed by Darryl Horsel, the district officer who supervised the fire investigation.

According to Horsel's report, the explosion occurred after a tanker finished pumping fuel into an underground diesel tank. The direct cause, he determined, was static electricity igniting a flammable mixture of fuel vapors and air which had accumulated in the emptied tanker compartment. {Source: The Investigation of the AMPOL Road Pantry Service Station Fire, 325 Brighton Rd, Brighton North, August 28, 1993, by Darryl Horsel, District Officer.}

IIRC, there were no significant injuries, even the driver only had some scratches. And then we all got to throw around that "BLEVE" term again only a few months later when there was that natural gas explosion in Melbourne.

Omicron · #3 Post by **Omicron** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:46 am

I vaguely remember photos in the newspaper of black smoke billowing from the petrol station. Ah, memories.

Xaragmata · #4 Post by **Xaragmata** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:56 am

Prince George wrote:That fire was a terrific chance for us all to add the word BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) to our vocabulary. Oddly, I managed to find a reference to the fire from an "urban legends" site post about "mobile phones can start fires":
[...]
IIRC, there were no significant injuries, even the driver only had some scratches. And then we all got to throw around that "BLEVE" term again only a few months later when there was that natural gas explosion in Melbourne.

I've seen blevy & blevied in relation to exploded fuel tanks, but wasn't aware of the acronym origin, until now.

bm7500 · #5 Post by **bm7500** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:01 am

I remember that the brush fence accross the other side of the road caught alight from the explosion!

schs448 · #6 Post by **schs448** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:27 pm

Some of my pics of that day here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pobox448/s ... 154696573/

ac83 · #7 Post by **ac83** » Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:48 pm

schs448 wrote:Some of my pics of that day here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pobox448/s ... 154696573/

Great photos. I was living at west beach at olds at the time and could easily see the flames. I've never seen such black smoke before

rev · #8 Post by **rev** » Sun Nov 27, 2011 8:38 pm

Damn, unleaded at 65 cents.
Nearly twenty years later and it's almost a dollar more.

baytram366 · #9 Post by **baytram366** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:02 pm

Ah excellent. A response

Fantastic photos. I love Flickr

spiller · #10 Post by **spiller** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:51 am

On a similar topic, does anyone remember the Fire that gutted the AS Horn rubber factory on Prospect Road in 1994 (or maybe 1995)?

atsrx7 · #11 Post by **atsrx7** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 8:54 pm

I'm not sure if this will be read by the poster but I was there at the time of the fire.

I was searching for some info on this fire, as I was there filling up my fathers car (I was 13 at the time), when there was a spontaneous explosion, from the tanker which blew out onto the Road.
My family were no more than 25 metres away when this massive fireball erupted. I still remember the heat from it. The tanker driver ran towards the shop, screaming and started rolling on the ground from burns.
We ran to behind the building, being the safest route, and watched it go up for ten minutes or more until evacuated.

The cause was most likely due to operator error, by not grounding the truck before filling the tanks. Apparently the driver should have been in contact with the truck to discharge any static build up.

Shane

The Scooter Guy · #12 Post by **The Scooter Guy** » Tue Jan 20, 2015 4:42 pm

So that's what really happened when Chuck Norris messes around with Mr Gasoline!