Dallas

Car Wash Fireball Serves as Cautionary Tale of What Not to Do

"He's vacuuming, just sucking up that gasoline, just blew that thing right up!"

Surveillance video shows a fireball erupting at Checker Flag Car Wash in Dallas when a driver vacuums up what may have been spilled gasoline, according to business owner Mark Krim.

The footage — recorded April 4 at 11:43 p.m. — shows a vacuum tank bursting into flames as a man cleans out the trunk of his car. Krim said he believes the driver was vacuuming gasoline.

"That first second, that tells everything. And you can see how it starts," said Krim, watching the video. "He's vacuuming, just sucking up that gasoline, just blew that thing right up!"

When Krim first noticed the vacuum tank was burned, he looked turned to surveillance video to find out how it happened. He found evidence of gasoline while repairing the vacuum.

"The bags inside were soaked with gas," he said. "I had to take everything apart and let it air out for a day before I could even rebuild it."

The car wash owner said he's seen a lot on surveillance footage, but nothing like what was recorded that night.

"Shocking," Krim said. "Now I can laugh because nobody got hurt."

Not only does the man in the video appear uninjured, but he appears unfazed as the fire rages, calmly retrieving more coins for the machine to spray the fire with water.

"I mean, he was nice enough to try and put it out," Krim joked, but said the driver was "so lucky he didn't get hurt" because what he did was dangerous.

Fortunately, the fire and power were already out.

"You know, if anybody did this at home with a home vacuum, that thing could blow up in their face," Krim cautioned. "They just have to know about this stuff."

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