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> > Last week at Underseas Divers on Big Pine Key a nitrox tank was being
> > filled... (snip)
> 
> And most significantly, what STOPPED the combustion?
> 
(snip) 
> isn't the 
> fact that the explosion-in-progress STOPPED at less than a catastrophic 
> level suspicious to you? That fact alone suggests to me that, (given that 
> the incident actually occurred) it was something other than an O2 fire. 
> It surprises me that you would buy such a report, and then repeat it 
> here, without that question leaping out in front or your eyes, and 
> demanding an answer.

I don't know about this reported incident but in general it isn't that unusual 
that such a fire stops. O2 by itself doesn't burn.

Once a fire starts, fuel and oxygen are needed to sustain it. If either one
runs 
out, the fire stops. If you use a CO2 fire extinguisher on a gasoline fire, the 
fire goes out because the O2 in the air gets displaced by CO2.

Similarly the propane tank on your gas grill at home doesn't explode when you 
light the grill because it can't. There isn't any O2 in the propane tank to 
burn. Fire is only possible at the fuel/air interface in the burners on the 
grill.

If something outside an O2 tank starts burning, the flame won't race through
the 
valve and into the tank because there's (hopefully) nothing in the tank to act 
as fuel. The hoses may burn up etc., but the tank won't explode because it
can't 
without fuel inside.

Rick
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