Despite Florida Gov. DeSantis urging the public to not “panic buy” gasoline, a 2004 Hummer H2 is now burnt to a crisp after the owners were reportedly loading it up with extra gas.
According to Citrus County Fire Rescue, the incident happened yesterday in Homosassa at around 11 a.m. Authorities were called to a fire at the Texaco Food Mart on W. Grover Cleveland Blvd., and found the Hummer already ablaze.
After the fire was extinguished, four 5-gallon containers filled with gasoline were found in the back of the Hummer.
Citrus County Fire Rescue officials say the exact cause of the fire is still being investigated, and one person was injured. However, they refused medical assistance.
Earlier this week a cyberattack shutdown the Colonial Pipeline and paralyzed most of the Eastern U.S. with a gas shortage. In response, Gov. DeSantis declared a state of emergency despite our state getting 90% of its gas from ports.
“You do see shortages, but also, that’s compounded with some panic buying,” DeSantis said Wednesday at a press conference. “Look, if you need gas, get it. But you don’t need to be hoarding it right now. That’s going to make it worse.”
Nevertheless, the panic buying has already begun and here we are.
This story originally appeared at Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
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This article appears in May 12-18, 2021.
