Gasoline in the kerosene!

Kerosene sold recently at a Montgomery County service station was tainted with gasoline, and fire officials are asking purchasers to return it.

Apparently more than 400 gallons of the combined gasoline and kerosene were sold at the Ashton Freestate service station on Route 108 at New Hampshire Avenue between 8 a.m. Sunday and 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, officials said.

Someone had inadvertently delivered gasoline to the wrong tank at the station.

The mix-up was discovered after a small fire ignited when a Montgomery County homeowner refilled a space heater, officials said. No one was injured in that fire.

Gasoline is extremely dangerous.

Gasoline stored in a space heater "could cause fire and explosion or even death," said Battalion Chief Donald R. Howell, a spokesman for Howard County Fire and Rescue Services.

And, even if stored in a kerosene container, gasoline can flare and result in explosion and violent fire, officials said.

For more information, call county fire prevention officials at [phone].