Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1915-10-20
GASOLINE, a HIGH EXPLOSIVE
The Following Warning 10 Sent Out
by the State Insurance Depart
ment. -

mont. =
A large number Of lives were lost by
the explosion of a 250-barrel tank car
Of gasoline near the Santa Fe freight
offices in Ardmore, Okla. Occurring in
the afternoon of September a., the ex.
plosion shook down many buildings
and threw burning gasoline in every
direction. BY $50 p. M, the fires were
under control. The property damage
is estimated at 100000. It was ne.
cessary to place the city under martial
law, owing to the excitement caused.
A spark from q hammer is said to
have caused the explosion, as two
| workmen were repairing the leaking
tank car. Both were killed.
1T is safer to handle dynamite than
it is to keep gasoline or benzine in a
dwelling house or factory" said c.
Albert Gasser, chief of the Bureau OF
Combustibles of Newark, N. j., In
Safety Engineering for August. These
inflammable fluids are equally danger
Gus, whenever handled or stored, un-
less handled properly. 1.-THE vapor Of
benZine and gasoline is not visible or
dinarily, and herein lies the danger"
| Captain Gasser added. IF it were a
cloud of dust you could see it and get
out of the way; but it is part of the
very atmosphere and you cannot see
it. Depend upon it, however, the vapor
lis all about you, a danger which
threatens death, although an invisible
agent"
| Charles E. Worthington, of Boston,
discussing the dangers of gasoline, in
Safety Engeering for September, oh.
served: 1T is in the migrating quail
ity that the greatest hazard of gaso-
line or naphtha lies. Most explos-
ives require fire to be brought to
them, but naphtha searches out the
fire. 1t will run in a stream along
the ground, follow down a stairway,
seek out a crack in a floor at con-
siderable distance, and finding the fire
flash it back until it reaches the point
where the mixture Of air and vapo1
is explosive Chat point always exists
somewhere) and ignite the vapor up.
on the surface (the equivalent Of ig
hitting the materially Instances are
very numerous of this occurring at
distances exceeding so feet, in many
cases approximating 300 feet and as
concerns those under so feet, almost
innumerable."
"Gasoline and naphtha can be made
less dangerous for household use il
the following six rules are observed,
says Robert w. Hargadine, State Fire
Marshal:
1. Never keep gasoline or naphtha
in glass bottle or other breakable
container.
| 2. Never keep it near fire or in 9
warm place.
3. Never rub any article in gaso
line or naphtha because these pro
ducts are easily electrified. An excep
ton to this rule may be made in clean
ing kid gloves stretched upon thu
hands, providing the rubbing is no
done in the fluid, and is done in tn,
open air.
4. Never press or iron goods tina
have been cleaned with gasoline O
naphtha until they are thorough.
dried in the open air.
5. Never sprinkle gasoline or naph
tina about the edges of carpets or rug
to kill moths.
l 6. Never keep a supply of gasolin
or naphtha in the cellar where tn
vapor from possible leak might az
cumulate, but if it is absolutely nece:
sary to keep the product in the hous
place the container on a shelf at leas
four feet from the ground.
The observance of these simpl
rules will eliminate the hazards {
handling these extremely inflammabl
products in the household, and non
is expensive, onerous or impractical.