Fuel Geysers

[2dogs]

The stories of fuel geysers from a hot saw have been around for years in the wildland community but I haven't heard them mentioned here. I'm linking to an article from wildfiretoday.com that tells a story of a very unfortunate wildland who was burned by his chainsaw's fuel. Take a look.

http://wildfiretoday.com/

 

[JTM]

My heart goes out to the fire fighter. Keeping my sarcastic tongue in check I am glad you posted this in that everyone needs to be reminded of the hazards of ignition sources when dealing with gasoline - period. With that said it doesn't care if it is a threaded cap or a twisty when flammable vapors contact an ignition source- capice?

 

[jackjcc]

Seems like bad form to be opening a fuel tank within any distance of a fire. Fuel tanks almost always have positive pressure, and I can assume it gets very high in the heat near a forest fire.


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[Tenderfoot]

A buddy of mine who worked on a fire line out west told me how he let his falling certification lapse since the Stihls with the flippy caps would spray fuel, but without opening the cap. Said a guy got cooked pretty good, wound up throwing a flaming saw away from himself. From what I understand they were told by Stihl the issues with the caps sealing were operator error. He also said his crew would not replace the Stihls with Husky saws.

 

[old CB]

Don't know what kind of fuel was involved in this incident, but when I first moved to the high country, working at 6,000-9,000' elevation in summer heat, I once or twice had fuel boil out of my saw's fuel tank on opening the cap. Not to any significant extent, but enough to get my attention. (I've always been mindful of hot muffler and such when refueling.)

I quit common pump gas with its ethanol component, and use only pure gas in my mix--ethanol boils at a lower temp than gasoline. Have never since had fuel boil out of the tank.

Besides being a total PIA, those flippy caps have this issue as well. Who needs a scrench for twist fuel caps? The fuel and oil caps on my Huskies seal and open finger-tight just fine.

 

[1Alpha1]

My father was a lumber jack and worked in the timber industry for years and years. I remember him using a rag and covering the fuel tank cap when opening it up. He did that all the time w/o exception.

 

[madhatte]

OK, yeah, that's a valuable heads-up for me and my crews as we run all Stihl on fires and in spite of training and warnings we sometimes get slack with procedure when we get busy with fire. Excellent post.

He also said his crew would not replace the Stihls with Husky saws.

That's not "won't replace" as much as it is "can't replace" -- any shop, mine included, invests in both the saws and the parts inventory that goes with them. As much red tape as it takes to keep the machines going, starting over with a new inventory is impossible. I'm brand-agnostic off the clock but have no such freedom at work. If there was some sort of a recall that forced abandonment of a product, we'd do what was required but otherwise management will shut down any major change in product lines. It's just a fact of government service.

 

[Drptrch]

A good resource of "Lessons Learned" in and around WildFire
A production of NWCG:

Wildland lessons learned
http://www.wildfirelessons.net/home

Rapid Lesson Sharing
http://www.wildfirelessons.net/resources/rapidlessonsharing

Six Minutes for Safety
http://www.nwcg.gov/committees/6-Minutes-for-safety

They all have data bases and you can search "Key" words or browse chronologically

Stay safe and enjoy

I was involved with the Rough Fire - Hotshot burned by rolling log
And a brother of mine was first on scene of the Tender roll over at Soberanes this year. 300' ride down.

 

[Drptrch]

...and back to fuel geysers.
Not only saws, but drip torches (though slightly less flash-flammable) and also injuries sustained by leaked fuel on clothes and getting contact-exposure burns .

It was 110+ in shade in Coalinga at a fire and my torch boiled over in the rig.

 

[Moto Vita]

It happened to me once with a steel gas can that was filled and set in the sun on a hot day. Fortunately there was no ignition.

 

[madhatte]

Oh, I've had driptorches boil over and spray, but you can see that happening and point it appropriately or ditch it. A saw looking up at you is not a threat that you expect.