If you have ever pumped gasoline for your vehicle, you have seen all the warning signs about static and cell phones. I will reserve my comments about cell phones @ gas pumps causing fires, but one thing I can almost guarantee is that if your PLASTIC gas can is sitting on the carpeted floor board inside your car, or in the bed of your truck (especially if you have a bed liner), or you choose to hold the can off the ground while you fill it… well you are playing with FIRE!
As this news report demonstrates, even a plastic gas can MUST BE SITTING on the ground. Plastic is a very poor conductor, which makes it a very good insulator and this spells trouble around flammable liquids. But plastic is just a “poor” conductor, which means it can conduct some of the static charge generated by the filling of the container. But if we choose NOT to place it DIRECTLY on the ground, then it has no chance at all. This young lady decided that bending over was too much work this time and instead tried to fill the container as she held it waist high. Here is her first hand account of what happened…