Quote:
Originally Posted by cmags
Wow.  That's quite the story. Did the pump room normally smell of fuel that vividly that it wasn't immediately apparent you were wading through fuel? Or did it all just happen so quickly that you noticed and saw the fountain all at once? |
There was always a smell of JP-4 in the pump room. I've tried to remember if the smell was overpowering or not at the time, but I can't. I do remember stepping into the room and into the puddle and my first thought was water.
Aviation fuel came in colors. I don't quite remember all the colors used then, but do recall 115/145 AvGas (aircraft reciprocating engine) was purple, MoGas (vehicle gas) was red and JP-4 (jet fuel) was yellow. However, the JP-4's color was always a very light shade and the floor of the pump room was painted a fuel proof gray color. So it was difficult to determine color. Any other fuel would probably have shown up as not water.
The odd thing is, I have a vague memory of seeing the fountain as I walked in and it just didn't register that it could be fuel. My only thought was water from the faucet. It was after checking it and looking at the fountain again, that I realized what it was and what I was standing in.
JP-4 for those who don't know, was one of the most volatile of all jet fuels. It had an unknown flash point, meaning its vapors could ignite at any temperature. Air Force fuels troops always joked about driving around strapped to a 5,000 gallon bomb. It was essentially the truth. Standing in a small lake of it in an enclosed room was scary enough...but realizing the extent of the "lake" and seeing an aircraft engine start beginning with the exhaust pointed right at the lake, really got my heart pumping.