UK: Texaco Service Station Caught up in Fire Incident

Firefighters rushed to a Plymouth petrol station on New Year's Eve when a car caught fire on the service station forecourt containing 30,000 litres of fuel. Two fire crews from Greenbank tackled the blaze at Vale Service Station in Alexandra Road, Mutley, just before 9pm.

Garage owner Nick Paull was sitting down to New Year's Eve dinner with his family when he was phoned by employee Pete Small, who lives near the garage and had spotted the flames. The Texaco petrol station had shut at 8.30pm and the pumps were switched off.
The car had been left on the opposite side of the forecourt to the storage tanks.
Firefighters switched off an external emergency electrical switch on arrival .

The fuel is stored in oxygen-free tanks, so even if a lighted cigarette was dropped in, there would be no explosion. Mr Paull understood that the car had broken down, and the driver had pushed it onto the forecourt and left it. It caught fire several minutes later.
Police spokesman Insp David Eldridge said the fire was thought to have been caused by an electrical fault, and arson was no longer suspected.

This one of a number of fire incidents that occurred for petrol stations in the UK over the holiday period.

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