Once again gas bottle safety and maintenance

**LandyAndy** · 4th May 2011, 06:29 PM

A 16 year old boy lost his life and his 13yo sister and his farther are in critical condition after a fire and explosion in a tent at a Mandurah caravan park last nite.The incident happened at 3am,a faulty gas bottle is thought to be the cause.
The family were living in the tent as they had nowhere else to live.
SAD STORY.
Andrew

**V8Ian** · 4th May 2011, 06:52 PM

Sad news Andy.

**Chucaro** · 4th May 2011, 06:52 PM

Very sad

, there are a lot of people that are doing very tough and meanwhile we are playing like a rich country where nothing is wrong sending money overseas when a lot needs to be do here.

**isuzurover** · 4th May 2011, 06:54 PM

Saw that on the news - very sad.

A similar thing happened over here very recently to some people camping - victims were friends of a GCLRO member.

**disco_thrasher** · 5th May 2011, 06:43 AM

Teen dies in tent explosion - Yahoo!7 News

This is another unfortunate accident ,yes i know i am a safety manager and deal with safety and control of hazadous substance and gasses all the time ,but i can not stress to you all how quickly things can go wrong

Please under go regular maintainance and turn your bottle off after each use .

Before each trip i do a quick check with soapy water in a spray bottle and spray the head to check for any leaks (leaks will be displayed by bubbling up)
i also once connected the gas line when i get to camping spot spray again to ensure the connection is good and to ensure nothings happened on the dirt /corrugrated road .

yes some might think its overkill but hey for a 2 minute check for a happy camping trip and safe family i am all for it .All i hope is at least some of you start checking your bottles and taking them in for maintainance.

thanks
Kelvin

**OrangeZXr10R** · 5th May 2011, 09:16 AM

Unfortunately, the Father and Daughter have also died now as a result of the explosion.

**tony66_au** · 5th May 2011, 09:20 AM

Just to add to what Kelvin has written above, The reason WHY LPG is so much more dangerous is because it is heavier than air.

This means that any leak in a confined space will lie at the lowest point in the structure and mixed with air is a highly explosive mix as I've witnessed when using it to eradicate Rabbit burrows in years past.

Basically I treat LPG as I treat Acetylene, with respect.

Hope this helps,
Tony

**V8Ian** · 5th May 2011, 09:44 AM

Father, daughter die overnight from blast

A tragic loss.

**cartm58** · 5th May 2011, 12:07 PM

Always followed a safety rule of never having a gas bottle within the tent

**Basil135** · 5th May 2011, 01:14 PM

Many moons ago, a group of us were in the Flinders Rangers for a week or so.

Towards the end of the trip, we pulled into Wilpena Pound for a night so that we could shower etc. It was fairly busy, and we were all sitting around the campfire late at night, having a few quiet ones.

Suddenly from behind me, I hear this WHOOSH, and the entire area is lit up like the mid-day sun.

What had happened was, some teens had decided to get away for the weekend. They had a 9kg gas bottle with a lantern attached in the back of the ute. When they lit the mantle in the lantern, there was a crack around the fitting at the bottle end, but on the lantern side of the tap.

It could have been a disaster but for a number of lucky factors.
1) The bottle was lit outside, not in a tent
2) The bottle fell onto its side, and the raw gas was being burnt off
3) The bottle was nearly full, reducing the risk of a blow back
4) I was able to get around to the side of the bottle easily, and get to the tap to turn it off.

I am glad to see that more & more people are using LED lighting in tents etc removing the need for gas lighting inside.

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