Electrical fault possible cause of gas station fire in Helsinki
The fire that completely destroyed a Neste filling station in Helsinki’s Oulunkylä district on Saturday more than likely originated from the ceiling of the building.
On Saturday the police had not yet launched a technical investigation into the cause of the fire, but according to fire chief Markku Ahonen one of the possible reasons for the blaze was an electrical fault. Moments before the fire started, the petrol station’s staff had heard the sound of something blow up in the ceiling structures.
The fire at the gas station located in Siltavoudintie started just before 13:00 in the afternoon. Nobody was injured in the blaze.
When the fire started, the filling station, which also included a grocery store and a fast food restaurant, was open with some customers inside. The staff, however, guided everybody out and exited the building before it was all ablaze.
Soon a fierce inferno ripped through the structure, sending smoke northwards several kilometres away.
“After one o’clock we could smell the smoke all the way in Pakila”, said Esko Räty, who had arrived from two kilometres away to observe the fire.
“On the radio we were told to close the windows and turn off the ventilation”, Räty continued.
According to Ahonen the thick smoke consisted of normal combustion product gases.
“Smoke is never healthy, but there was nothing toxic among the burnt materials.”
The risk of explosion, if there was any, was only momentary, Ahonen said. In the first instance the firemen isolated the fuel meters and tanks, and the fire was prevented from spreading to the meter stand in the forecourt.
According to Deputy Managing Director Pekka Huttula of the Finnish Oil and Gas Federation, the petrol and diesel tanks at filling stations are so well-protected that it is not possible for fire to reach them.
The tanks lie underground several metres deep and they are well insulated. Fire cannot reach them in a space void of oxygen.
“In practice the tanks would not catch fire even if flames were blazing on top of then”, Huttula says.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 9.11.2009 - TODAY |
 Electrical fault possible cause of gas station fire in Helsinki |
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