By Brian Boyd – SouthCoastToday.com

DARTMOUTH — A couple tried to beat the high cost of gasoline by hoarding it in their apartment, but the plan backfired when fumes ignited, causing a fire that displaced residents from eight units in the complex, officials said.

Wednesday’s blaze at Ledgewood Commons, fueled by the gas stored in a utility closet, was quickly extinguished by firefighters. However, the incident had the potential for disaster.

“If it had not been for the sprinklers, this building would have probably burnt to the ground,” said Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan.

A husband and wife living in a second-floor unit at the North Dartmouth apartment complex off Faunce Corner Road kept an estimated 45 gallons in nine plastic jugs, Dartmouth’s District 3 Fire Chief Richard Arruda said.

The jugs were covered by cloth rags and stacked in a hallway closet that housed the air conditioning system, Chief Arruda said.

An investigation suggested they were hoarding the gas in response to skyrocketing prices, according to Ms. Mieth and Chief Arruda.

Officials did not immediately release the couple’s names.

No one was seriously injured in the fire. If the gasoline had exploded, though, the results could have been “catastrophic,” Chief Arruda said.

“The worst-case scenario would have been a vapor explosion, and obviously we could have had people seriously injured by the explosion,” he said.

The District 3 Fire Department and the Fire Marshal’s Office were investigating the fire, which started at about 4:30 p.m. and displaced approximately 15 residents from eight units, including the one where the fire started. The other units sustained smoke and water damage.

The damaged units are in a section of one of the three buildings in the apartment complex, which is on Ledgewood Boulevard.

State and fire officials will decide from their investigation whether to bring charges against the couple for fire code violations. It would most likely be a civil matter, not a criminal one, Chief Arruda said.

The husband jumped from the second-floor balcony to escape the fire and sprained his ankle, he said. Everyone else escaped the building without injury.

The Fire Marshal’s Office determined that the fire was accidental, resulting from a heat source — likely the natural gas water heater or a propane-powered cooking appliance — igniting vapors from the stored gas, Ms. Mieth said.

State law prohibits storing more than a quart of gasoline in a home, including attached garages. The gasoline must be stored in an approved safety can, she said.

The law allows people to store up to a gallon of gasoline in a detached garage or shed at least 50 feet away from an inhabited building.

Gas can vaporize even at temperatures below freezing, and vapors travel, Ms. Mieth said.

“Since we handle gas so often, we forget to give it the respect it ought to command,” she said.

The stored gas caused damage beyond the flames and smoke in Wednesday’s fire.

Gasoline from the jugs mixed with water from sprinklers and firefighters’ lines, and the contaminated water spread to nearby apartments, Chief Arruda said.

When the contaminated water was discovered, “all firefighters were ordered out of the building and were immediately washed down to protect them from exposure,” he said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection had a cleanup crew working at the site Thursday, removing the contamination and taking soil samples from near the building for evaluation.

Chief Arruda stressed that hoarding gasoline indoors is not only illegal, but extremely risky.

“It’s not worth the danger,” he said.

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