The combustion hazard of plastic domestic heating oil tanks and their contents.

The malicious ignition of plastic domestic heating oil tanks has become commonplace in Northern Ireland. Various means of ignition have been suspected, however, in most cases there is little supporting evidence. Tests were conducted to identify successful methods of ignition and to establish how rapidly these ignitions occur. Three tanks and their contents were separately ignited using the combustion of a quantity of petrol, a cloth wick and a cardboard box containing newspapers. The results of the tests, together with implications for the construction and siting of tanks, are discussed below.