Naww, its the middle of winter and I’m sitting in my heated car while the ‘sign-obeyers’ are freezing their collective rears off.
I’ve spilled my share of gasoline on hot engines and have yet to see a fire, and I almost always leave the car running on cold days. There is no source of spark coming from near the gas tank, if there was cars would explode all the time regardless of where they are.
I’m chalking this up to overly paranoid insurance/government agencies.
’ There is no source of spark coming from near the gas tank, if there was
cars would explode all the time regardless of where they are. ’
No, they don’t do that. The gas tank is sealed so that rarely happens except for drama in films. They do catch aflame though & such actually happened right next door to me at the gas station once.
Never heard of it happening because of the engine running, but the Diamond Shamrock station I frequent had one of the pumps burn a few weeks ago because a guy was filling a portable container in the bed of his pickup. Static electricity really works…
When I worked at a truck stop we did have a fire start while someone was pumping gas – but not because the engine of his vehicle was running. What he did was leave the generator running in his RV, and somehow that sparked a gas fire. We all had a small heart attack as we watched the flames run along the hose towards the tank. Fortunately, a quick attendant dove for the fire extinguisher and nothing else caught. I don’t know if the place would have blown, but I’m all for the better-safe-than-sorry rule after that!
Incidentally, truckers leaving their tractors running isn’t a problem, because diesel fuel is a whole lot harder to ignite than gasoline.
Oh, and (because I’m sure you were all dying to know) kitty litter is a good way to clean up a spill. 
rivulus
When I was in Fairbanks (Alaska), it seemed to be standard practice to start your car when you left in the morning and never turn it off until you got home at night - people would leave their cars running in the parking lot for hours while they shopped.
They would also leave their cars running at the gas station. I never saw a gas station explode while I was there.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Aerosmith drummer yet. He was burned while at a gas pump.
I even, ta-da!, even have a link:
http://www.mtv.com/sendme.tin?page=/mtv/news/gallery/a/aerosmith980717.html
All the news reports I remember hearing claimed that his cigarette caused the fire. Unfortunately, this link doesn’t attribute a case.