Fuel on the Fire

gasline.jpgWhen it comes to disaster preparedness, sometimes you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. Just ask the folks in storm-wary south Florida, where people dutifully heeded the CNN/MSNBC/Fox hype around Tropical Sneeze Ernesto by stocking up on gasoline for their cars and backup generators.

As my friend who lives in Palm Beach County put it to me in an email on Monday:

If I don't get gas tomorrow, I won't be able to drive much longer. People are freaking out everywhere here like armageddon or something. No gas now, it's ridiculous! People are freakin' nuts, I tell ya!

Now that Ernesto has come and gone, it's the local fire departments that are freaking out. That's because they're concerned about all those red cans of gasoline in peoples' garages. Imagine the kaboom if a house fire breaks out. Authorities are now suggesting that people use up their fuel stocks--at least until the next storm comes around.