Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cell-Phone Fires: A Lot of Static

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 02:30:52 -0400

Cell-Phone Fires: A Lot of Static
By Elisa Batista

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,58188,00.html

02:00 AM Mar. 25, 2003 PT

An Indonesian man suffered severe burns on his face when his cell phone ignited a fire at
a gas station in 1999, according to an e-mail message circulating on the Web. That same
year, the message claims, an Australian man exploded when his cell phone rang near the gas
pump.

In response to those incidents, the e-mail further alleges, Shell Oil recently issued a
warning that when a mobile phone rings it can produce enough energy to trigger a small
fire if the user is pumping gas while toting the phone.  The message is nothing but an
urban legend, say representatives from the wireless and petroleum industries. But it's
clearly one with legs: It has made the rounds online for the past three years, according
to Snopes.com, a website dedicated to debunking urban myths.
For its part, Shell denied that it ever issued any kind of warning against cell-phone use
in gas stations.  "This e-mail has been circulating on the Internet for some time now,"
said Shell spokeswoman Stephanie Johnson. "We can't vouch for the events it describes, or
the source of the e-mail."

Travis Larson, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association
trade group, said he has received at least one question about it every week for the last
three years.

"It is in fact an urban legend," Larson said. "We have not come across a legitimate news
source that has reported that gasoline or gas fumes are being ignited by a mobile phone."

Robert Renkes, a spokesman for the Petroleum Equipment Institute, said he has documented
every reported gas station fire for the last several years. "We have not found a cell
phone responsible for any fire since the beginning of mankind," he said.  If neither
industry has ever officially linked cell phones to gas station fires, why is the urban
legend so rampant?
Renkes said he noticed in the e-mail rumor's most recent incarnation a link drawn between
cell-phone use and static electricity.
Cell-phone use, he said, does not cause fires, but in rare circumstances a static
discharge can create a spark at the gas pump.  For example, Renkes has documented
instances in which motorists get back in their cars while refueling. When they get out of
the car to replace the nozzle, they discharge static electricity -- a potentially
dangerous combination in proximity to the gas tank.  Renkes said no link between
cell-phone use and static discharge exists, however.

It's also possible that government-mandated warnings accompanying cell phones may have led
someone to craft the alarming e-mail.

Before it merged with Sony, for example, Ericsson included this message in the user manual
of its T66 cell phone: "Turn off
your mobile phone when in any area with a potentially explosive atmosphere. It is rare,
but your mobile phone or its accessories
could generate sparks. Sparks in such areas could cause an explosion or fire resulting in
bodily injury or even death. Areas with
a potentially explosive atmosphere are often, but not always, clearly marked. They include
fueling in areas such as petrol
stations, below decks on boats, fuel or chemical transfer or storage facilities"

Motorola and Nokia also include similar warnings in their user manuals. And Exxon gas
stations have even begun placing warning stickers about cell-phone use at the pump.But
some cell-phone makers say they are simply complying with a British law that mandates that
all battery-powered devices carry such warnings. Nokia, for example, chose to include the
warning in all of its manuals worldwide, rather than rewrite the manual for each
individual country, said Keith Nowak, company spokesman.
Like all batteries that produce energy, cell-phone batteries could conceivably ignite an
electrical spark, although the chances are so remote that it's hardly a risk, Nowak said.

Renkes said the manufacturers include the warning to "cover their butts for legal
reasons." "It pretty much would never happen," Nowak said. "But the place where our
warning comes from is the U.K., where, basically, all battery-operated devices -- whether
it's a Walkman or a garage door opener, or whatever -- must carry a warning." And
Snopes.com disputes even that slight possibility.

"The claim that the batteries used in a cellular phone can ignite gasoline seems specious,
since cellular phone batteries are the same voltage as automobile batteries (12V DC) but
deliver far less current," the website stated. "Likewise, the claim that a 'cellular-phone
ringer uses more than 100 volts for excitation' is a curious artifact of the regular
telephone era: Cellular phones don't have ringers. They produce audio tones that simulate
the sound of a ringing telephone." In other words, don't fret too much if you forget to
turn off your cell phone the next time you go to fill 'er up.

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From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 03:13:44 -0400

Before anyone panics let me caution you that some of the information below is an old wives
tale. No need to run out and buy rubber gloves and boots.

Motorola has taken the following position which I fully support.

From Moto's April 2003 Report-

"Some facts are in order. Motorola and others, including petroleum industry
organizations, have looked into this matter at length. It has been perpetuated by reports
of incidents that never occurred or could not be verified when investigated."

Marcel wrote:

> a gas station in 1999, according to an e-mail message circulating on the Web.