Gas station workers
avert disaster after
car catches fire

A car burst into flames while parked next to a gas pump at a Kalihi station yesterday, causing about $36,000 in damage in an incident that could have been much worse.

"There's a lot of bad things that could have happened," said Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada.

David Keith, Aloha Petroleum's general manager of operations, said a man pulled into the gas station at 1701 Dillingham Blvd. because his car hood was steaming.

The driver got out of the car. Then the car's hood went up in flames.

Tejada said the fire damaged two gas pumps.

Workers at the station stopped gas from flowing to the pumps by pressing an emergency switch.

Tejada credits them with averting a disaster.

"The systems worked the way they were supposed to work," he said. "Once they shut off the system, there's not that much fuel in the dispenser itself."

When firefighters arrived, Tejada said, they put a "water barrier" between the pump and the fire and doused the flames within a few minutes.

No one was injured in the 12:40 p.m. fire.

Police closed three lanes on Dillingham Boulevard as a precaution.

They diverted traffic through side streets, and all lanes were open by 2 p.m.

Tejada said emergency shut-off systems are mandatory at gas stations and keep fuel underground in the event of a fire.