A motorcyclist who had a mishap while refueling at the Shell station at Fourth Street and El Camino Avenue Monday morning escaped serious burns but significant damage was caused to the gas pumps and the overhead canopy.

The fire broke out at approximately 11:08 a.m. Firefighters and multiples engines from both Modesto and Stanislaus Consolidated fire departments were dispatched to the fire and quickly extinguished the flames before it could spread to the store or nearby vehicles.

Surveillance cameras aimed at the fuel island captured video of the motorcyclist sitting on his motorcycle while he inserted the gas nozzle into his tank and seconds later pulling it out with fuel gushing onto his hot engine or exhaust pipe and the ground. The gas ignited and the rider jumped off and ran away from the flames. The video also showed that a woman – who may have been traveling with the motorcyclist – had parked her car on the other side of the pump and walked over to him seconds before the fire started. She immediately ran to her car and drove it away from the fire.

The motorcycle was totally destroyed and there significant damage to the gas pump, and scorching of the canopy. The man responsible for the fire sustained minor burns and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Fires at gas stations would be much worse if it were not for the emergency disconnect switch that can disable the transfer of fuel to gas pumps. 

The same Shell station was heavily damaged in June, 2021 when an intoxicated 23-year-old Isabel Zepeda of Modesto careened off of northbound Highway 99 and crashed into the western gas pump. Zepeda and her two minor children sustained minor injuries in the crash.

In January firefighters were dispatched to the Chevron station at Hatch and Herndon roads when a 30-foor RV became fully engulfed in flames next to the gas pumps. Two occupants riding in the RV were injured.