תיעוד: רכב עלה באש בגלל חשמל סטטי

A woman filling up her car at a gas station in northern Israel received a shocking surprise Saturday evening when a static charge suddenly sparked a fire at the gas pump, setting her car ablaze.

Last week, unseasonably dry weather sparked fires across Israel, and helped spread fires deliberately set by arsonists targeting Jewish communities.

But the dry weather, with 5% relative humidity (compared to a seasonal average of 60-65%) has also led to a dramatic increase in static shocks.

While buildups of static electricity ordinarily constitute little more than an annoyance, for one woman getting gas at a station in Kibbutz Ginosar in northern Israel, one static charge almost ended in disaster.

When the woman reached out to remove the gas nozzle from her gas tank, a static charge exiting her hand and entering the nozzle suddenly set off a small explosion from the gas fumes around the nozzle, lighting the nozzle and the woman’s car on fire.

Luckily, the woman was able to remove the nozzle and flee without injury. A team of firefighters were called to the scene to extinguish the blaze.

Gas station where the fire occurred in Kibbutz Ginosar