New details surrounding what caused a massive fire at Buff Whelan Chevrolet have surfaced, and it’s clear a member of the cleaning staff ignited the blaze.
While investigators believe the fire was an accident, the floor cleaner is to blame for what a dozen fire departments called the worst fire in the city of Sterling Heights’ history. Buff Whelan released surveillance video after the floor cleaner’s story contradicted what investigators saw on camera.
The cleaner stated he buffed over gasoline, which ignited and burned his arm. However, the video clearly shows the cleaner knocked over the gasoline canister which he then tries to clean with his bare hands. He then continued to buff the floor and when he reached the gasoline spill, the fire ensued.
The fire destroyed a large portion of the service department and took over 50 cars with it. Buff Whelan Chevrolet has stated all customers affected by the fire will be compensated accordingly. The investigation is still ongoing and the cleaning employee has not been identified.
Comments
Did the cleaning manager TRAIN the cleaner?
Or, did the manager say to himself “This cleaner should have learned about every single issue, 15 years ago at school, so I expect him to know exactly how to deal with every kind of spill” (and if we fire him and he gets a new job as a burger-flipper, the restaurant will expect he learned everything about food safety 15 years ago at school)
America, stop expecting your schools to teach everything it is possible to know. Start expecting your EMPLOYERS TO DO WORKPLACE TRAINING which is specific to the worksite.
Why was there any kind of obviously open canister of gasoline in there anyways? It should be closed tight, not to mention being stored in a flammables storage cabinet. According to the article, the cleaner says he buffed over gasoline and it caught fire. That is what happened, no contradiction there, even if he is the one who spilled the gasoline. Whoever left an open canister of gasoline sitting around is to blame.
^^He should have been able to smell the fumes pretty strong right there and had a heads up moment or something as well David ^^.
Obviously he was never trained in the proper cleanup of spilled gasoline, as Old Trombone has stated. Still, there should NEVER be an open canister of gasoline laying around that can be knocked over and spilled in the first place.