Fire and flammable liquids often behave in very unexpected ways as you pointed out in this article. Hollywood is probably to blame for that. A lot of it has to do with the air to gas ration - again as you stated. Another myth is that you can light a gas spill with a cigarette. Not true, you need an open flame to light gasoline. You can basically put out a lit cigarette in a bucket of gas. Other weird behaviors sometimes have to do with the specific gravity of the gas. If the gas is heavier than air it will pool on the floor. If its lighter than air it will gather at the ceiling. There have been cases where people have used chemicals in their homes without proper ventilation. The gas being heavier than air, travelled down the stairs to the basement where it was ignited by the furnaces pilot light.

Regarding propane tank fires. You should look up the term BLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion). They are pretty interesting as well. I took a course on fire investigation as part of my fire protection technology degree. It was interesting learning all the ways people try to commit insurance fraud by burning down their house or blowing it up. People usually get caught and there are a lot of epic fails lol.

BLEVE video

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