U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY EPA 400-F-92-010

OFFICE OF MOBILE SOURCES

FACT SHEET OMS-8

August, 1994

Methanol Fuels and Fire Safety

Vehicle Fire Risk

In 1986, there were 500,000 vehicle fires and 1,400 vehicle fire fatalities in the United States.

Gasoline was the first material to ignite in 180,000 of these fires and many of the other fires

ultimately involved gasoline.

Gasoline-ignited fires in 1986 involving cars, buses, or trucks resulted in 760 deaths, 4,100

serious injuries, and $215 million in property damage.

Projections indicate that casualties would drop dramatically if methanol were substituted for

gasoline as the country’s primary automotive fuel. Looking just at vehicle fires in which gasoline is the first material to ignite, a switch to methanol could save an estimated 720 lives,

prevent nearly 3,900 serious injuries, and eliminate property losses of millions of dollars a

year.

Methanol’s fire safety advantage over gasoline stems from several physical and chemical properties (see figures on page 3):

• LOWER VOLATILITY (Figure 1)

Methanol does not evaporate or form vapor as readily as gasoline does. Under the same

conditions, exposed gasoline will emit two to four times more vapor than will exposed

methanol.

• HIGHER FLAMMABILITY REQUIREMENT (Figure 2)

Methanol vapor must be four times more concentrated in air than gasoline vapor for ignition to occur.

• LOWER VAPOR DENSITY

Gasoline vapor is two to five times denser than air, so it tends to travel along the ground to

ignition sources. Methanol vapor is only slightly denser than air and disperses more rapidly to non-combustible concentrations.

• LOWER HEAT RELEASE RATE

Methanol burns 25 percent as fast as gasoline and methanol fires release heat at only oneeighth the rate of gasoline fires.

These properties together make methanol inherently more difficult to ignite than gasoline and

less likely to cause deadly or damaging fires if it does ignite. Methanol is the fuel of choice for

Indianapolis-type race cars, in part because of its superior fire safety characteristics.

Other Fire Issues

Pure methanol burns with a light blue flame that is not easily seen in bright sunlight. It is

possible, though highly unlikely, that spectators or firefighters might fail to notice the heat

and unknowingly walk into a methanol fire. In the great majority of vehicle fires, however,

burning materials other than fuel (such as engine oil, upholstery, paint, etc.) would produce

both smoke and visible flames. In addition, a chemical could be mixed with methanol fuel to

provide flame luminosity. Research is under way to identify potential additives.

Unlike gasoline, methanol can ignite at ambient temperatures in enclosed spaces such as fuel

tanks (gasoline produces too much vapor to ignite in enclosed spaces). But this property of

methanol is unlikely to cause vehicle fires or ‘‘explosions” in either collision or non-collision
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Methanol Fuels and Fire Safety

situations. Explosions occur in collisions when the fuel tank ruptures and spilled gasoline

bursts into flame. Again, this is much less of a risk with methanol than with gasoline. In

non-collision situations, fuel tanks tend to be isolated from ignition sources. Finally, simple

vehicle design modifications to methanol vehicles will even further reduce the chance of fuel

tank ignition. These changes include use of materials that prevent flames from spreading

through the fuel tank and modifications to further isolate the tank from sparks and other

ignition sources.

Fuel Distribution Issues

Methanol’s energy content on a per-gallon basis is roughly half that of gasoline. Motorists

would need about twice as much methanol as gasoline to travel an equivalent number of

miles, and nearly twice as much methanol would have to move through the fuel distribution

system to accommodate them. (If vehicles were optimized for methanol, it would be possible to reduce the amount of methanol required to travel a distance equivalent to that traveled on one gallon of gasoline.)

If methanol were as flammable as gasoline, the doubling of fuel transport would result in

more fires. However, methanol holds such inherent fire safety advantages over gasoline that

the opposite should occur. Deaths, injuries, and damage due to fires in the fuel distribution

system should in fact decline, despite the increase in fuel transportation.

For More Information:

The Office of Mobile Sources is the national center for research and policy on air

pollution from highway and off-highway motor vehicles and equipment. You

can write to us at the EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory,

2565 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105. Our phone number is (313) 668-4333.
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Methanol Fuels and Fire Safety

Fuel-related vehicle fires, Fuel fire fatality zones*

deaths, and injuries

Methanol

Gasoline

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

fires deaths injuries

Gasoline (1986 

FEMA & NHTSA 

data)

Methanol (EPA 

projection)

*The zone in which 1% or more of bystanders would be 

killed by fire, assuming a fuel pool ten meters in diameter.

Makes little vapor (evaporates slowly)

Makes lots of vapor (evaporates fast)

Needs lots of vapor 

to burn

Needs little vapor

 to burn

Fire zone is confined; fires 

much less likely

Fire zone is broad; fires much 

more likely

METHANOL

GASOLINE