A Civil Defense firefighter assisted by a citizen to extinguish the fire. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
A single lit cigarette, which is suspected to have caused an explosion at a Hypco gas station in Hadath on Wednesday morning, is among the main culprits behind gas station fires across Lebanon, the president of the fuel importers' union told L’Orient Today. But it’s not the only thing that can spark a deadly incident.“Fires are the biggest issue at gas stations,” Maroun Chammas says, “and they’re usually the result of human error.” Several gas station fires have already broken out this year, notably in Beirut’s Sin al-Fil neighborhood and in Abdeh, Akkar district, and most recently, in Hermel, Bekaa district, with an explosion that killed three children.What’s most likely to ignite the gasoline fumes that inevitably come with filling a car up with fuel? And what other threats to safety are there at Lebanon’s over 3,000 gas...
A single lit cigarette, which is suspected to have caused an explosion at a Hypco gas station in Hadath on Wednesday morning, is among the main culprits behind gas station fires across Lebanon, the president of the fuel importers' union told L’Orient Today. But it’s not the only thing that can spark a deadly incident.“Fires are the biggest issue at gas stations,” Maroun Chammas says, “and they’re usually the result of human error.” Several gas station fires have already broken out this year, notably in Beirut’s Sin al-Fil neighborhood and in Abdeh, Akkar district, and most recently, in Hermel, Bekaa district, with an explosion that killed three children.What’s most likely to ignite the gasoline fumes that inevitably come with filling a car up with fuel? And what other threats to safety are there at Lebanon’s over...