My family and i came out of JB's after a nice, uneventful meal. We were walking around the corner; there was a man standing next to the Employee's Only door outside--i've seen JB's employees smoking back there. This man was reading a newspaper. He looked up as we walked to our van, as expected.

When we got to the van, the man with the newspaper shouted "hey!" and began to run across the street. i noticed the newspaper laying on the ground. i then looked up to see flames shooting out of the gas tank of an expensive suburban while another man had been gassing it up. When he turned and saw the flames, he pulled the nozzle out of the gas tank without shutting it off and flames spewed in a perfect arch all over the ground. It all happened within ten seconds and the fire was out of control. The woman in the suburban grabbed her children and ran. There was mass chaos as people ran toward the fire and others ran away from it. A third man, the man working at the gas station came out with a fire extinguisher that didn't do a lick of good. He seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing.

Soon two waitresses came out of JB's and bolted down the alley. A man with a camera--the big expensive kind that reporters use--came running up the alley. The media was there before we could even hear the sirens of firetrucks or police.

i have never felt so helpless in my life. i doubt i'll ever forget seeing those flames shooting out of the nozzle. Instinct tells you to help, but really, what can be done? i don't believe anyone was hurt; it should be in the newspaper tomorrow.

We all watched in a kind of fascinated horror. i wanted to cry, but only because of the sheer unpredictability of it all, of the suddeness. It really was a freak accident.

Later, we drove by the gas station. The middle had been cut off with police tape and the gas pumps around it were back in full use. White foam covered the area where black smoke had been billowing from. Seems appropriate, i think.