@robbak said:
This report seemed strange enough to trigger my built-in physics parser. Seems like I was right.
wikinews applies a little science
You would think it might be a hoax, but this is Australia we're talking about. Normal logic does not apply. If we do apply the logic used by wikinews, it might still make sense. If the man was wearing a nylong jacket and woolen shirt, you can bet he has strange habits when it comes to buying stuff, so maybe the car really didn't have a metal lock. It's Australia, so humidity probably was low enough for the guy to hold so much charge. It's pretty much a desert island. Australians always look pretty wonky, so his hair standing on end wouldn't stand out. They say the energy stored probably wouldn't have been enough to burn carpet, but as morbs said, Australians love them some beer, so the whole carpet could have been stained with some alcohol, which could burn easily. As for firefighters checking his voltage and taking the jacket to let it discharge, Australian physics isn't as developed as everyone else's physics. They didn't know how to handle that static built up in the guy's ridiculous jacket.
So it does make sense when you remember the setting is in Australia.