This is True

Dimmest Bulb

An unidentified 39-year-old man from Laval, Que., Canada, was dropping off a load of “oil byproducts” at a Petro-Canada plant in Mississauga, Ont. Unsure if his tank was empty enough for him to move on, he looked inside. Since it was dark, he used his cigarette lighter to shed a bit of illumination into the tank. The resulting explosion threw him 13 feet and burned off his eyebrows, but he was able to walk away. “I think it was one of those things where just before the explosion happened, he said, ‘Uh oh. What did I do?’,” said police Constable Heather Andrews. (Canadian Press) ...She’s pretty optimistic if she thinks he thought that before it went boom.


Publication Date: 4 March 2001

This story is in True's book collection, Volume 7.