Erik
08-29-2009, 02:01 PM
Authorities in Illinois said a woman destroyed her car by trying to use a cigarette lighter to check the level of fuel in a gas can she was filling.
Police said the 27-year-old woman was filling up a gas can in the passenger seat of her yellow 1970 Chevrolet 400 at a 7-11 gas station in Joliet at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Joliet Herald-News reported Friday.
"(She) then used a lighter to use as a light to observe how full the can was," a police report of the incident said.
The lighter caused the gas can to explode, engulfing the inside of the car in flames, and the woman quickly pushed the burning car away from the gas pump to prevent the fire from spreading.
The woman was treated by paramedics for non-life threatening second-degree burns to her right wrist and right thigh. She was taken to Silver Cross Hospital.
Police said the 27-year-old woman was filling up a gas can in the passenger seat of her yellow 1970 Chevrolet 400 at a 7-11 gas station in Joliet at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Joliet Herald-News reported Friday.
"(She) then used a lighter to use as a light to observe how full the can was," a police report of the incident said.
The lighter caused the gas can to explode, engulfing the inside of the car in flames, and the woman quickly pushed the burning car away from the gas pump to prevent the fire from spreading.
The woman was treated by paramedics for non-life threatening second-degree burns to her right wrist and right thigh. She was taken to Silver Cross Hospital.