Can cell phone waves cause fire or explosion at a gas station?

Although there is no research that fully proves that using mobile phones in areas containing a lot of gasoline or oil will cause fires, according to scientists, the danger of fire and explosion at gas stations due to mobile phone waves cannot be ignored.

Deputy Head of Department 7 - Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) Hoang Ngoc Huynh said that the regulation prohibiting the use of mobile phones at petrol and oil depots and retail points has been stipulated by Oil Organizations and Groups around the world in all their activities. Mr. Huynh also admitted that in the world and in Vietnam, up to now, there has been no research that fully proves that the use of mobile phones in areas containing a lot of petrol and oil will cause fires.

However, there have been some accidents that may be related to this. Specifically, at the end of November 2011, Mr. Vu Trong Khanh in Gia Lam, Hanoi was severely burned by a fire that broke out when he received a call to his mobile phone while using the toilet at a gas station on Phu Dong bridge, Long Bien district. The victim said that before answering the phone, he had smelled a strong smell of gasoline and when he received the call, the fire rushed in and surrounded him...

According to Mr. Vuong Thai Dung, Deputy General Director of Petrolimex Group (expert in gasoline fire safety), when turning on the phone during a call will cause a short circuit, creating an electric spark. If unfortunately the concentration of gasoline around the user is large enough to ignite, it will combine with the electric spark from the phone to cause a fire.

Meanwhile, in the Vietnamese market, there are many counterfeit and non-genuine mobile devices, so they often do not ensure safety in terms of circuits and batteries. Along with that, some extended features of the phone related to flash lights also cause fires when exposed to areas with high concentrations of gasoline and oil.

Cell phone waves pose a potential risk of fire and explosion.

Discussing this issue, Dr. Huynh Quyen - Director of the Center for Research on Petrochemical Technology (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology), also affirmed that currently, in the world, all petrochemical refinery facilities are implementing a ban on the use of mobile phones to prevent the risk of fire and explosion. When there is a phone signal, the heat source generated from the phone is very large, which can cause a short circuit leading to electric sparks. At that time, if there is a leak at the gas pump, it will easily cause a risk of fire and explosion. Although there is no final conclusion in the world about whether phone signals can cause fire and explosion at gas stations or not, and in fact in Vietnam there are very few cases of fire and explosion caused by phone signals, to ensure people's lives, we cannot be subjective.

Answering the question, within what radius is it dangerous to use a phone at a gas station? Dr. Quyen commented: “Currently,

There has been no survey to give an exact figure on the safe distance between a gas station and a person using a phone. The figures of 3m and 5m are only estimates. To find out the safe radius, we must carefully survey the concentration of gasoline vapor in the air at each gas station.

There have been suggestions that phone signal jammers should be installed at gas stations. However, according to scientists, it is technically possible to jam phone signals, but because most gas stations in our country are not isolated, it will block the signal of the entire nearby area, greatly affecting the communication needs of people around.

According to Dantri-M