A Look at Gas Station Safety After Mobil Explosion

The Mobil station on the Hutchinson River Parkway is now open after an explosion damaged the station and several cars in the area last week, but just how likely is an incident like this?

The explosion, caused by a driver backing into one of the gas pumps, only caused minimal injuries. Although the fire spread quickly and destroyed several vehicles, things could have been worse.

A worker at another local gas station was surprised to hear that there was even an explosion at all.

Abdo Ahmed works at the new Shell gas station in Harrison, located at 235 Halstead Avenue. According to Ahmed, there are safety precautions all gas station workers are supposed to be aware of.

"I've worked in this field all my life," he said, "and I've never heard a story like that before. I mean, even if someone backed into a pump, it wouldn't necessarily explode. The tanks at the [Mobil] gas station might have been old, or just not up to date."

There are several regulations in place to keep fires from spreading at gas stations, according New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. These include both manual and automatic shut-off valves and a shear valve that must be placed under the tanks to prevent gasoline from emerging uncontrollably in these types of instances.

These precautions kept the fire from spreading into the main gas supply during the Mobil fire, according to the NYSDEC.

"In this case the valve was in place but the gas from the explosion was the small amount in the hose dispenser and primarily the gasoline in the car itself," NYSDEC Media Relations Officer Lori Severino said in an e-mail.

Ahmed explained that although shocking, the Hutch explosion is rare and gas stations are usually safe thanks to emergency switches that immediately turn off all pumps.

"There's one in here," he said, indicating a large red switch on the wall behind the cash register. "And one over there," he pointed to the opposite side of the store, "and out there. Even if I can't get to it, anyone can hit the emergency button."