On Mon, 11 May 2009 00:25:29 +0100, Frank Erskine wrote:

In a GPO depot in the 60s there was a petrol-pump attendant who used
to look after an indoor petrol pump. He was a smoker and used to
extinguish his ciggies by squirting them with petrol from his pump.
He lived to retirement age...

That is a little different to having poured a large quantity of petrol
into an enclosed place, leaving it for "a while" the dropping a lit
cigarette into the now nice vapour build up... The temperature and volume
of the fuel hitting the cig is enough to cool the small amount of heat
available below that required for ignition.

Mr Bloomfield's example is also some what different to the case we are
exploring. Not enough fuel to produce a high enough vapour concentration.

As a lad I used maybe a table spoon full of petrol to start a fire. It
started alright! The whole pile of wood (about 18" across and a foot high)
expanded several inches and fell back whilst the flame front had a good
attempt at removing my eye brows and hair... Source of ignition an
ordinary match after the chemical fire had finished. I have a deep respect
for petrol. Paraffin or diesel are harmless by comparison.

--
Cheers
Dave.