Illegal diesel fuel in home!!! Read this link!!!!
 

Diesel isn't explosive.....they are morons. You could drop a lit match into diesel and it'd just go out. Its perfectly safe to store diesel.

um... how many fuel oil tanks are "enough to blow up 14 houses..."
uh, a cigarette? um, no...
same fuel as diesel...

If that 500 gallons were atomized first, otherwise it would just burn for a long time.

Wow, Mr Porter is really ignorant when it comes to basic physics. I can take a bucket of diesel and extinguish my cigarettes in it all day without worry. It would take a blowtorch to ignite liquid diesel.

Wow, she is actually educating children in that state?!

Well, they are in Atlanta.... ;)

heh, actually, all it takes to "blow up 14 houses" is to mix it like the idiots did in the Oklahoma City bomings... of course, they used ignitors... and they mixed the diesel with some, um, additional items...

Hmm, lets see I got nearly 300 gallons in my shop. Oh wait, thats furnace oil. Wait a minute, same thing. I guess I better get rid or it before I blow up the whole block. Retards:rolleyes:

Yeah, gotta love the power of commonly available diesel and fertilizer. :D

Geeze, I tank a maximum of 200 gallons of furnace fuel in my basement for the oil furnace. I guess that would destroy seven of my neighbours houses. Guess my heating system will have to go?

Why not a moderate fine with a stern warning backed up by a heavy future fine for a repeat of the offence. This much apparent official over reaction drives people on to welfare. Also with so many fines usually the guy cannot pay all of them so pays none. Where is the logic?

Has it got to the point of every incident having to be an object lesson to discourage others? This type of behaviour would not be tollerated by our local people. If things were handeled in this fashion in my area I would move away.

We deal with problems in a much gentler fashion. They still get accomplished with less overall damage done.

I have put out a fire using a bucket of diesel. (emergency situation and had no water around). And they are telling me us that it could explode 14 house with cigarettes...

Is it true that you cant ignite gasoline with a cigarette because its not hot enough...

YUP, true. it's very difficult to ignite liquid gasoline... movies and tv are SOOO much fun to watch.
although, a cigarette, is capable of being hot enough, it just requires airflow through the cigarette, so you have to be actually smoking the thing to ignite the fuel... don't try THAT at home...

I think it's the concentration of the gasoline vapours that present the more intense ignition problem. These are generated by simple evaporation as well I imagine. If contained and near saturation probably takes very little to ignite them.

Why yes, you can.

-Jason

Diesel vapor is not so hard to ignite from a reservoir of liquid, but to keep it burning is the problem. The flame from the pitifully small diesel vapor could be blown out by the last breath of a dying tick mouse.
This is another case of an government official being not very well informed about common things.
This poor person should take-em all down to the county court house for a nice civil litigation , but he probably can't afford to participate in our civil justice system. He will probably be ruined once they are through meating out the exemplary punishments for this egregious crime.
Yes, that is the failure of the American justice system, but that's what Americans want - vengeance - isn't it ??. You should see some of the cases in Texas - talk about abuse and wild west justice - where people literally get away with murder and others get 20-life for something so much less significant that it merits probation - despicable!!

Since at best you cannot even recover any more than thirty percent of costs in a civil action in Canada. The legal system is not a valid approach for the average guy.

This was done by intent to discourage too many actions. Or as told us to discourage the American type practice of law coming here originally.

Now it is very hard to deal with problems through the court system. It will financially humble the average guy even if you win. Basically if you win in most cases you have lost financially at the end. Forget about the stress involved.

Equal justice remains only a concept almost everywhere.

I have always loved the swearing in to tell the truth aspect. Then watching the most imaginative liar win the action. What a system.

If he common concept of lawyers is already not bad enough. It seems to be progressivly getting so bad now there are no jokes currently that reflect it adaquatly.

At one time I remember speculation about the prevelance of the occasional honest lawyer. Never hear that anymore at all. Bloodsuckers is an inadaquate term for them locally. Sad state of affairs in general.

One more comment before Brian cuts this off topic thread -
Yes justice is illusive and transitory at times, but equality is purchased many times in American civil litigation. It is as many regressive taxes, least regressive to those who are impaired least. Such is the same for the cost of justice as it is an economically regressive commodity.

Well What do you expect, from Clayton County?
 

What makes me crazy is the Less than educated Fire Chief...

Hey,Down here in the lower 48..
How can you tell a Lawyer gone bad...'Addressed as Senator!

I emailed the reporter.

I think the reporter was just writing what she was told. I found the comments from "officials" to be filled with sensationalism and untruths.

The whole situation smacks of panic-mongering. It's ironic that you can go down most any street and see thousands of gallons of #2 fuel oil stored in tanks outside homes.

Holy Crap!!! Quick, someone call all the farmers of the world and tell them that they have put us all at risk! How could they subject all of us to this "nightmare situation," . . . this . . . this . . . this "travesty," if you will. These reckless farm people could have have blown us all to bits!


Question. If the following is true:

"Police, firefighters and the state Environmental Protection Division assessed the damage and found no leaks, Cohilas said."

Then how is this possible?

"The fuel could have ignited a storm drain, got in the groundwater or caused numerous other problems, firefighters said."

And this . . .

“The codes, ordinance and life safety measures he violated are too numerous for me to name,” Cohilas said.

. . . is perhaps the most meaningless and ignorant statement of the whole article.

OMG!! I store 800 gallons of #2 in the basement of my house in New Paltz!!!:eek::eek: And it is all about 10 feet from the oil burner!!!
I could level a square mile!

I guess I qualify as having weapons of mass destruction!

Oh, and what about the 22 gallons in the tank of the car? I could take out a school with that!!!


SHEEET, I mean don't they have oil heat in Atlanta? What about the basement tanks of apartment buildings?

If anyone cares to email the Clayton County fire department and let them know that you disagree with some of their more ridiculous statements, the email can be found here:

http://www.claytoncountyfiredepartment.com/

(Look in the upper right hand corner)

Paste the link to the article and ask some legitimate questions, there is no point in sending rude or disparaging comments. However, I don't see the harm in asking them to clarify some of their statements. For instance, I would like to know what type of study was carried out to determine the "14 houses" hysteria - my goodness, if these guys know something we don’t; we could all be in BIG trouble.

All of this is not to say the this guy was not in violation of local codes; however, the statements from the fire officials are beyond ridiculous and if they were overseeing the fire response protocol in my region I would be frightened.

She did say she was just reporting what she was told by the 33 year vet fire chief. I say he needs go to back to fire school, or be beeotch slapped for the sensationalism he's spreading. Didn't reporters used to research things before writing an article? You know, like really work for the story? This is a reason why I think the media sucks and has no credibility.

I e-mailed the fire department with some questions about their intelligent statements. We'll see if they respond. :D

Email sent
 

If anyone is interested:

"Hello gentlemen (and ladies, perhaps,)

I have just read this article: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/clayton/stories/2009/03/31/diesel_wrecker_service.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

I have some questions:

1.) I heat with fuel oil, identical to diesel fuel. What precautions must I take to prevent this 250 gallon tank of diesel from causing harm to myself and my neighborhood?

2.) I drive a vehicle (a good, strong, american-built one for sure...) that runs on diesel fuel. Should I refrain from smoking in my car and allowing others to smoke nearby? I have really been shaken by this article and am concerned.

3.) There is a farm not too far from where I live and the property owner has rebated fuel tanks in excess of 1000 gallons on his property. How can I determine that I am outside a safe radius in case of explosion? I fear that an explosion on this farmer's property might start a domino effect with my property and several others in the neighborhood known to heat homes and hot water with fuel oil.

I did not realize that there was such a danger in storing diesel oil, as it is non-evaporative in normal circumstances. I am surprised that this dangerous substance has been allowed so long without more serious, preventative government oversight.

Thanks for your quick response,

Ian"

I DO NOT expect to get a response to this, but if I do, I promise to post it.:D

Oh I can't wait to see if you get a responce to that.

IT was very well composed as well:cool:

Either blame the media or the county for the sensationalistic hype, but there were a couple of issues that are legit.
First, the man was running an unlicensed business from his garage.
Second, the man did not have any safe guards in place for runoff. Obvious spills on the driveway, for example, and nothing to contain the runoff.
Third, at present, they are investigating the type of diesel, with insinuations that it could be illegal for on road vehicles. (Possible off-road diesel)

As to the storage crap, it's just that, crap. Frickin' journalists looking for some angle and creating or blowing things way out of proportion.

Something special in Atlanta Drains?
 

"The fuel could have ignited a storm drain" said the fire chief.

As a Brit I was well aware that folks in Atlanta speak their own language, something other than English. Now I am discovering that the chemical properties of water in Atlanta are also special......

Probear, I guess I must have deleted that part before I posted. I do not disagree that he was allegedly running an illegal business, and if found guilty, should be penalized for such. My comments were supposed to be concerning the storage of this "highly dangerous" substance known as diesel.

Email sent.

Ironically enough from the same author:

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/clayton/stories/2008/08/28/clayton_schools_accreditation.html

That should explain several things about the neighbor and Clayton County in general for those of you who are not from Atlanta.....

Wow, it's public stupidity like this that makes me wonder if I should fill the 500 gallon tank in my garage.

“If there was a leak and one dropped that cigarette, it would have been a travesty,” Porter said. “At a minimum, he would have took out 14 houses.”

Travesty? The travesties are that this guy wields some degree of legal authority, the decision he made and his misuse of the word travesty. The irony is thick with this one.

At first I simply thought they misspelled tragedy:)

Not gust GA, but Colorado too!!!

http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=112254

http://go635254.s3.amazonaws.com/pla...gas_sink_2.jpg

explosive fuel?
 

Travesty instead of tragedy ,took not taken ...

Sounds like the bigger issue-- was he was running "dyed" fuel..

"In addition to the danger at the house, Richards was using the wrong type of diesel in his tow trucks, which are in violation of state emissions laws, Porter said. Police are investigating the origin of the fuel and anticipate additional charges."

Probably the reason he was tanking up in the garage in the first place...

The fearmongering crap about blowing stuff up, is what the media is about.. News/media/entertainment doesn't "need" to focus on facts, anymore.. Facts become more irrelevant each day..

AJ RN

Of course, that isn't true either. The dyed fuel is because it isn't TAXED for on road use, it doesn't have anything to do with emissions. It is true, however, that it it easier to get people upset about the environment than it is about taxes.

Another German heritage member here, btw.
JD 2355 tractor made in Manheim
1991 BMW K100LT
1982 240TD
95 lb German Shepherd

That could have been a reference to the trucks exhaust systems being too poor to pass inspection, or something. Maybe not a direct causation between the fuel usage and the emissions problem.

Another thing to consider is that in this state, on-road diesel is almost invariably 15ppm or less sulfur (ultra-low) while off-road, in the rare event it is found, is plain LSD (500ppm). Perhaps if that state has a law preventing the on-road consumption of any fuel but ULSD, that could also be to what it referred.

Not defending the rest of the idiocy. Just devil's advocating those points.

Unbelievable...

"“I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure these kids get full accreditation,” Thompson said."
What NOW after loosing it? Why not before so they could keep accreditation?


"By Thursday afternoon, parents flooded school offices to withdraw their children. Two thousand students have already fled the district this school year and the number is expected to grow.
Thompson said he was disappointed that families were not willing to give the district another chance."


Can you blame the parents? I would have pulled my kids out of ther eso fast you would have heard a sonic boom!