The perceived “gas shortage” has led to more and more stories of people panic buying fuel and doing intensely foolish things. There has been everything from people trying to put diesel in their gasoline cars to rumors of people using flimsy plastic containers to hoard as much gas as possible. In Florida, a Hummer H2 owner filled the back of the truck with 20 gallons of fuel in gas cans right before the Hummer unsurprisingly went up in flames. 

There is no gas shortage

The panic surrounding the “gas shortage” has been ill-founded and should have stopped before it began. The ransomware that affected the Colonial pipeline caused many Americans to panic buy as much fuel as they could carry, even though every report suggested that the problem would be solved by the end of the week. 

Despite the facts, many drivers queued up at gas stations with every possible container ready to be filled with gas. This hoarding of fuel is what caused stations to run out of fuel.

As the hoarding and foolish fuel storage became worse, officials warned drivers of the dangers of improperly stored fuel. Finally, this Hummer H2 fire in Florida validated all the warnings. 

Hummer H2 explodes in a gasoline-fueled inferno

According to The Drive, what was once a Hummer H2 got positively burnt to a crisp in Homosassa, Florida.

The driver filled up multiple gas cans with 20 gallons of gasoline and stashed them in the back of the Hummer. Within minutes of leaving the gas station, the Hummer caught fire, and all the fuel went up in quite the blaze. 

The Drive references reporting by the Citrus County Chronicle that says around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, the local fire department was called to put out the Hummer fire.

Thankfully, the fire department put the blaze out quickly because the driver had barely gotten away from the gas station. You can see it directly behind the burned Hummer in the images. 

The investigation rages after the fire is out

The blaze was extinguished, and the scene was cleared in about three hours altogether. Fire crews found four five-gallon gas cans in the back of the Hummer. Little information has been released so far as the local authorities are still investigating the incident. 

Although there is no evidence to support this claim, The Drive mentions a Reddit user who claims the Hummer H2 driver had lit a cigarette on their way out of the gas station, which is what allegedly sparked the inferno. 

Florida’s Department of Environmental protection was called to assist with any spillage or contamination left by the fuel. The reports from that group were that, although the fuel was stored properly, the fumes were still potent enough to cause the fire. 

As we come out of this unnecessary panic, hopefully, drivers can keep their cool in moments like these. Coming out of Covid, we should well know by now that hoarding and panic buying is a deeply unhelpful and damaging behavior that needs to be kept in check.