Haseeb Saleem is still in the service station business after stopping a woman from blowing up a petrol station in 2002.By Sarah Schwager
HASEEB Saleem’s quick thinking in preventing an explosion at a petrol station in Noble Park three years ago has earned him a bravery award.
Mr Saleem, 29, was one of 15 Victorians to be awarded Australian bravery decorations by Australian GovernorGeneral Michael Jeffery this week.
Mr Saleem received a commendation for brave conduct for his actions on 19 November, 2002.
He said it was keeping calm and doing what came naturally that helped save lives that day.
Mr Saleem was working by himself at the busy Mobil petrol station on the corner of Heatherton Road and Douglas Street about 8pm or 9pm when a woman tried to light a gas bottle.
“The girl was all drugged up and in a bad state,” Mr Saleem said.
He dialled 000 when he saw the woman behaving suspiciously near the gas bottles.
“She had the lighter in her hand and tried to light up the gas bottle but it didn’t work,” he said.
“She picked up one of the nozzles and squirted it out. It lit on fire and burst into flames.”
Mr Saleem pressed the emergency stop, fuel isolator and alarm buttons then raced outside and grabbed the lighter and petrol hose from the woman.
He said a regular customer, Robert, was trying to negotiate with the woman but when he was unsuccessful restrained her until the police arrived.
Mr Saleem said he ran to all of the cars telling people not to start their engines, leave their cars where they were and save themselves.
He said by that point there were flames and petrol fumes all over the petrol station.
“It all happened so involuntarily,” Mr Saleem said.
“I just knew what had to be done,” he said. “It’s all part of the training if you work at a service station.”
Mr Saleem said the fire brigade was on the scene within two minutes and cleared all the fumes.
He was made a manager after the incident and has since completed a postgraduate course in Information Technology at RMIT.
After finishing the course, Mr Saleem gained a position running a BP service station in Faulkner.
Last year he was awarded a Citizen Commendation from Victoria Police in Glen Waverley for the same incident.
Mr Saleem, who moved to Chadstone last month after living in Dandenong for the past six years, said he had been in the service station business since 1997, starting at Ampol in Dandenong.
He worked at Mobil in Noble Park for nearly five years.
“I knew what had to be done. I didn’t have to think,” he said.
“It was lucky I wasn’t new.
“In the fuel station business, anything can happen anytime.”
Mr Saleem said it was important that people were aware of the dangers at petrol stations.
He said talking on mobile phones while filling up was particularly dangerous because of petrol fumes in the air.
“You should be prepared. There are a lot of small things that you have to be aware of,” he said.
“Once you get out of the car, you should always touch the body of the car to get rid of the static.
“Things have happened in the past, they can happen in the future.”
Mr Jeffery awarded three Australians the Star of Courage, 28 the Bravery Medal, and 56 people received commendations for brave conduct.
Springvale South boy Simon Bui Tran was among those awarded a Bravery Medal for his actions after he – at the age of six – protected his mother from a man with a knife in April 2003.
Simon sustained extensive injuries to his left wrist and arm when he ran at the man who was stabbing his mother, Thu Thi Tran.
He then helped his mother to the phone to ring an ambulance before they ran to a neighbour’s house for help.
