This dude was obviously off his rocker:
A man attempting to light a cigarette while covered in gasoline in downtown Austin was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with attempted arson.
It was about 10 a.m. when Austin police were sent to the 700 block of Neches Street on a report that witnesses had seen a man pouring gasoline on vehicles and attempting to set them on fire, police said.
Police arrived and got a description of the man. He was found near Waller Creek at the 600 block of Sabine Street covered in gasoline and attempting to smoke a cigarette, police said.
Wow!
I am told that it’s an old trick for an arsonist to smoke while pouring gasoline around. The cigarette isn’t hot enough to set off the gas vapor. Then the arsonist, as he leaves, tucks the smoldering stub where it will set off something else, like paper, that burns hotter.
Probably not the case here. Yes the cherry on the end of a cigarette isn’t hot enough to light gasoline soaked items or pools of the stuff, once the vapor gets near the right fuel air mixture it doesn’t take much heat at all, and this fella was SOAKED in the stuff!
Also back in the day you could easily leave a cigarette in the crumbled ball of newspaper and it would eventually light and burn, but today’s smokes come in fire-retardant paper so a dropped butt quickly goes out.
Ah, that’s the good old straight nuts Austin I know and love, that’s the address of the homeless shelter in that area.
Paging Derek Zoolander…
So tragic when a bunch of super models die in a freak gasoline fight!