On my first day at the gas station, I watched a co-worker measure the level of gasoline in the underground tanks by lowering a giant measuring stick down into them. "What would happen if I threw a lit match into the hole?" I joked. "It would go out," he answered very matter-of-factly. "Really?" I asked, surprised to hear that. "Is there a safety device that would extinguish if before the fumes are ignited?" "No," my co-worker replied. "The force from the explosion would blow the match out."