The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1912-05-30
TO SAFEGUARD THE PUBLIC
State Makes Radical Changes in Regu-
lations for Storing Gasoline and Not
ices Are Now Being Sent to Dealers
in Oil Within the City.

Madison has sent to fire chiefs and
to many other people in Kenosha the
announcement of new regulation of
the department in regard to the hand
ling of gasoline. The formal notice
follows:
In an effort to reduce the loss Of
life and the fire waste due to gasoline
fires and explosions, this department
acting under authority of the state
fire marshal law, requires all gasoline
in excess Of five gallons to be kept
Either in an approved underground
tank, buried not less than two feet,
ten feet or more from any building,
equipped with standard pump, or in a
substantial, metal storage tank, hous-
ed in a separate build ng Of fre-proof
material and construction, ventilated
at top and bottom, and located at
least twenty-five feet from any other
building.''
That the public may more fully I'M
derstand the nature and danger of
gasoline, we quote from a most excel
lent article by L. P. Murray, publish
ed in Fire Prevention.
Gasoline, unlike the heavier pc
troleum products, throws off an ex-
plosive vapor constantly even at ex-
tremely low temperatures. Five gal
Ions of gasoline will generate 5000
cubic feet of gas which, when ignited,
expands to 1000 times this space. The
explosive force of one gallon of gaso-
line properly mixed with air and com
pressed is equal to SO 2-3 pounds of
dynamite or fourteen times greater
than dynamite. This means, Mr.. Mer-
chant, that if you have 100 gallons Of
gasoline on hand, you are storing the
equivalent in explosive force to 1886
pounds of dynamite. Gasoline is, in
fact, more dangerous to handle than
dynamite, as there is more liability Of
an explosion. Dynamite will only ex-
plode from two or three causes, which
may Comparatively speaking), be
easily guarded against and which must
occur in it's immediate vicinity.
"The vapor from gasoline is heavier
than air. 1t settles to the floor and
runs along the floor much as stream
Of water would, only that it is an in
visible stream. This vapor will settle
and remain in depression in the floor
or under the floor for days and even
weeks, unless disturbed by a circula-
tion of air, until a spark causes the
accumulated vapor to explode. This
spark does not necessarily have to
come from a lighted fire, but may oc-
cur through person striking nail
in their shoe on nail in the floor
or other similar unavoidable causes.
The records show that under certain
atmospheric conditions spontaneous
combustion will occur in this accumu-
lated vapor. A case is on record in
which the gasoline fumes were carried
outside of a building to a lighted
lamp thirty feet away from the build
ing, taking fire, and flashing back to
the building which was entirely
consumed
ssThe silent and invisible creeping
of this vapor from place to place
awaiting favorable conditions to strike
the blow that means loss of life and
property, is a terrible thing to think
of. When you consider how helpless
one is and how wholly at the mercy
of this insidious foe, too much stress
cannot be laid upon the necessity for
evaporation proof, fre-proof vented
storage tanks Consider your attitude
toward an assassin or incendiary bent
upon Tue U6StIuCJlOH VI ll1e OF prop
erty. Consider such fend lurking
unseen for days about your place Of
business awaiting the favorable mo-
ment to strike the blow that will de-
stroy or MAIN one dear to you and
wipe your business out of existence.
If you are handling gasoline in any
N+v but the right way, you are i'll just
this position and you can never fore
see when the blow will fall.
ssIt is past understanding, in view
Of these facts, that many merchants
with their entire capital invested in
the business, will give so little thought
to safeguarding their interests. With
the store heated by stoves or furnace
in the basement, they will at night
lock up this explosive in a warehouse
or building adjacent to, or connected
with. the store. After locking up fire
and this explosive vapor together, they
will in effect wager their entire in
ivestment against the merely nominal
leSpense of fre-proof storage, that this
Ivapor and this fire will not get
together.
n T pnrtall