Free Republic

Turkmenistan's president has ordered the government to find a way to extinguish a colossal gas fire burning since the 1970s. Dubbed the "Gates of Hell," the fire was rumored to be started deliberately in 1971 when a gas-drilling site collapsed into a gas reservoir, and geologists decided to set it on fire to keep the methane from spewing into the atmosphere—in the expectation that the fire would die out on its own in a few weeks. It didn't. The crater currently measures more than 230 feet by 65 feet and is a major tourist attraction in Turkmenistan, which has proven...

(CNN) -- Lightning strikes apparently caused a major fire at a gas company in North Carolina early Sunday morning, fire officials said. The blaze started at Colonial Pipeline Company in Greensboro after midnight, said David Douglas, an assistant fire chief in Greensboro. A pipe with 20,000 gallons of gas was burning and two tanks with about 12,000 gallons of gas caught on fire, Douglas said.

Surveillance video from a Phoenix gas station shows a man burst into flames when he lights a match while his friend pumps gas. According to the station's manager, the driver of the vehicle was pumping gas when his friend walked up and struck a match. The match caused an explosion, enveloping the match man in flames. WATCH - Click here to see the surveillance video. Surveillance video catches explosion on camera. When it happens a woman climbs out of the drivers side window, and someone rushes to grab a child from the backseat. Employees were able to get the pumps...