Floating roof tank fires are one of the most dangerous hazards for crude oil and petrochemical storage farms. In several cases, these incidents have escalated into major disasters when intense heat from a fire has caused loss of stability in the tank shell, causing the roof to sink under the tank contents and resulting in a full surface tank fire. Industry articles suggest that 33% of fires in open floating roof tanks start in the seal area between the floating roof and the tank wall. Lightning strikes are seen as the frequent source for such fires in refineries and storage tank terminals, but any circumstances where vapours leak through the circumferential seal or create an explosive mixture in the space above the liquid can result in static electricity or another source of ignition that starts a fire.