Memphis Gas Station Burns To The Ground, Immediately Making The City A Little Bit Safer

A Memphis gas station lit up in flames before eventually burning to the ground earlier this week, but the situation isn't all that bad for Memphians, because now there is one less location for crime to take place in the city.

The fire that broke out on Monday afternoon was accidental and caused by an electrical malfunction, according to the Memphis Fire Department. There were also no reported injuries, either, so the easily triggered crowd can leave their sensitivity to themselves.

The gas station itself was located at one of the busiest intersections in East Memphis, not far from the University of Memphis campus. Regular customers will have to find a new go-to spot for gas and students will have to try and use their fake ID elsewhere.

Unfortunately, picking and choosing which gas station you go to in Memphis is much harder than it should be given that they are the prime spot for crimes.

Pumping your gas is a dangerous endeavor in Memphis, a city that saw a 17-year high in violent crime unfold in 2023. Myself, and the vast majority of folks I know who also live in the city, try to avoid gas stations at night and certainly don't want their kids or the women in their lives filling up their cars alone.

Those practices aren't just from being paranoid, either.

After an uptick in robberies and violence at gas stations around the city, the Memphis Police Department warned citizens of the potential dangers waiting at the pumps.

“This is a crime of opportunity that we’re seeing at gas stations. When people leave their belongings in their car or their keys in their car, they're going to open that door. The first thing they're going to try to do is just take the whole car because it's there."

“If the keys aren't there, then they'll try to grab the wallet or the cell phone. Whatever's there that they might be able to get some return on investment on basically," an MPD spokeswoman told Fox 13 in March 2023.

Ironically enough, the live-hit Fox 13 did in March about gas station crime was done at the same gas station that burned to the ground on Monday. It's worth mentioning the liquor store located just behind the gas station was robbed three times in 2023 alone. And again, these crimes are taking place right around the corner from the university and some of the nicest and wealthiest neighborhoods in the entire city.

Crime in Memphis, particularly at gas stations, has long been on the rise. (Photo by: Isabella Pino/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Memphis Crime Continues To Be Out Of Control

Just a quick Google search of 'Memphis gas station crime' brings up pages and pages of reported crimes, shootings, and murders. In November, Memphis trended for all the wrong reasons yet again after 40+ people decided to rob and ransack multiple gas stations across the city.

Criminals didn't all of a sudden turn a new leaf to start the new year, either, with one man already being murdered at a Memphis gas station on January 4.

READ: MEMPHIS DOCTOR GUNNED DOWN IN FRONT OF FAMILY GETS LITTLE MEDIA COVERAGE, HERE’S WHY

If you read enough of the headlines you'll convince yourself that it's time to buy an electric car so you don't have to risk your life by pulling into a gas station.

Not being able to feel safe while pumping gas for five minutes is a reality that all aware and un-naive Memphians have to deal with.

Sadly, it's not a surprise given Memphis' track record.

When you have a doctor being murdered in front of his family while on a walk downtown, a runner being abducted and killed, a lunatic riding around in a car randomly shooting people, and even the inability to visit Top Golf without potentially catching a bullet then not being able to comfortably pump your gas is par for the course in the Bluff City.

Follow Mark Harris on X @itismarkharris and email him at mark.harris@outkick.com