Ammo Goes Off in House Fire

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Local house went up in flames. Hundreds of rounds of ammo went off. Sounds like firecrackers in the video. No definitive cause yet but one reports says the guy wss reloading out in his garage.

 

http://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/gilbert/gilbert-home-catches-fire-setting-off-hundreds-of-rounds-of-live-ammunition-fire-department-says-

 

 

[Utah Bob #35998]

Well, simply reloading can't cause a fire.

[Boon Doggle]

Here's a video that every fire dept. in the country should be required to watch.

 

http://www.saami.org/videos/sporting_ammunition_and_the_firefighter.cfm

 

Make that fire AND police.

[Dungannon Gunner]

Here's a video that every fire dept. in the country should be required to watch.

 

http://www.saami.org/videos/sporting_ammunition_and_the_firefighter.cfm

 

Make that fire AND police.

 

Thanks for sharing. Great information

[Church Key, SASS # 33713]

We had a house completely destroyed in October 2015 by an electrical fire that started on the front porch, it burned straight up with the roof collapsing in less than 10 minutes. It was a 10 year old frame rambler. The two dogs woke the family. The two adults plus two kids all got out OK, as did the dogs. Anyhow you could hear ammo going off for a good bit. As this is WV, no one ever bothered mentioning it later. He had just finished restoring a 65 Mustang, and was close to finishing a 69 Camaro. There was nothing left of either except some scrap metal; bummer.

[Shorty Jack Hammer]

I nearly cried when I watched the SAAMI video and saw them destroying all that ammo....but then again it looked like fun too....very informative though.

[Badlands Bob #61228]

No worries on the loaded ammo but the 5 lbs of black powder and 25,000 primers might make them pause.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

I've probably told this story before. I represented a bullet trap manufacturer, sued by Smith & Wesson, claiming that an indoor range they helped to design and build was defective, and resulted in a fire in a S&W repair facility in a strip mall across the street from the main S&W factory. Seems that S&W selected an open cell foam to line the first 10 feet of the steel tube that formed the range, for sound deadening purposes. They overlooked the fact that unburned powder from each round fired would accumulate in the foam, and eventually, ignite into a rolling fireball within the confinement of the tube. The foam and powder burned long enough to ignite the wooden shooter's booth, and we were off to the races. The strip mall burned to the ground.

 

The arriving FD, hearing the progressive ignition of tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition (this was a handgun repair facility; they kept ammo on hand for every style of S&W handgun for test firing purposes) decided that they would recline in the neighboring fields until the fireworks were over. Even if they had known that there was "little chance" of a powerful projectile reaching them, I don't think they would have acted differently. Who would?

 

LL

[Henry T Harrison]

It's not the loaded ammo that is the problem, it's the loaded guns

[Utah Bob #35998]

A flying case from an exploded round can still put your eye out.

[Shooting Bull]

A flying case from an exploded round can still put your eye out.

 

 

[Missouri Marshal SASS #50682]

Here's a video that every fire dept. in the country should be required to watch.

 

http://www.saami.org/videos/sporting_ammunition_and_the_firefighter.cfm

 

Make that fire AND police.

And news reporters

[Utah Bob #35998]

 

 

No worky

[Seldom Seen #16162]

"In addition, gas tanks of three cars in the garage ruptured, sending gasoline and a rolling fire down the driveway."

I think all of this gasoline along with other flammable materials and chemicals stored in the garage had a lot more to do with causing and fueling the fire than some smokeless ammunition.

[Yellowhouse Sam # 25171]

 

"In addition, gas tanks of three cars in the garage ruptured, sending gasoline and a rolling fire down the driveway."

I think all of this gasoline along with other flammable materials and chemicals stored in the garage had a lot more to do with causing and fueling the fire than some smokeless ammunition.

 

Yep!

[Trailrider #896]

IIRC, some years ago some one or agency did a test on loaded ammo stored in a wooden cabinet, with the ammo stored in cardboard boxes inside the cabinet. Or maybe it was just ammo in the cardboard boxes. The rounds started to cook off, but didn't penetrate the cardboard! These were smokeless powder rounds, BTW. Smokeless powder needs at least 5000-7000 psi to combust with sufficient buildup to send a projectile (bullet) anywhere with any velocity. The cartridge case may pose more of a threat in the immediate vicinity. (Yeah, could put your eye out!) Storing ammo in one of those military steel "cans" is NOT a good idea, as this will allow pressure to build up. Same with smokeless powder. The individual 1 or 8 lb cans nowadays are generally plastic, but even the steel ones will usually burst at the joints, and pose little problem other than contributing to the fire.

[Grouchy Greg, SASS#71981]

I keep my powder stored in a makeshift loose-top magazine strapped to a luggage cart placed near the roll-up door of our attached garage, and loaded ammo stored in USGI ammo cans wherever I have space for them, also in the garage. I prefer the garage because the temperature inside it never gets below 46 degrees even on the coldest nights, and never gets above 80 degrees in the summer. That's a less extreme temperature range than inside any of the three sheds out back.

[Two Spurs]

Local house went up in flames. Hundreds of rounds of ammo went off. Sounds like firecrackers in the video. No definitive cause yet but one reports says the guy wss reloading out in his garage.

 

http://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/gilbert/gilbert-home-catches-fire-setting-off-hundreds-of-rounds-of-live-ammunition-fire-department-says-

 

 

 

...and THAT is the reason I reload in my spare bedroom...................

 

:lol:

[Blastmaster]

Cooking off loaded ammo by fire is not as dangerous as people think,,,, as has been stated and documented numerous times above and in print.

 

The biggest problem is that cooking off ammo stops or makes the fire department pause in their response in fighting the fire. A few seconds or minutes is all it takes for the fire to really spread and engulf the structure and loss.

 

I have heard speculation that some fire departments will not even go in if they know there are firearms within the structure. A loaded firearm stored in the house and it cooks off can be a whole different situation than loose ammo. This may not be true but is plausible.

 

edit: How many people have sufficient sized hand held fire extinguishers in their reloading room, flamable storage area and in other parts of the house/garage? I do.

[Southpaw Gringo, SASS # 74217]

In the second video clip I liked what a neighbor said. "Next thing we do is what can we do to help". Many parts of this country they would be demanding a criminal investigation on this poor man thinking hes some kind of a domestic terrorist or a member of a Militia. That's the mind set of some people. Kudos to the neighbors offering to help!

[Dubious Don #56333]

Not too long ago I took a call of a car fire on a freeway in my beat. When I got there there were tthree engines and a ladder truck and the fire guys were taking turns shooting water on the thing...until they ran out. It was pretty much smoldering by the time the USAF engine went to get more water. The gas tank was still intact as were the tires. About fifteen minutes later the thing was totally involved again, burning like a tiki torch. The tires popped one by one, the gas tank let go (that was fun) and some pistol rounds the guy had in there somewhere went off. We were all wishing for hotdogs and marshmellows! LOL

 

Surprisingly, the FD says they avoid putting water on gas because that just spreads it. I've seen them use these plastic pipes, like long glad bags you fill with water and it makes a dam around the gas puddle so it doesn't go too far. Usually they just let it evaporate because if you use absorbent, that stuff mixed with gas makes a dandy tinder! (don't ask me how I know)

 

Back when, it was permissible to burn ammunition and other ordinance to destroy it in open pits. Now they have special burn trailers (with special $$$pricing too) but back then you dug a pit, lined it with wood (I also used cardboard) and the technique I used was layering. If you did it right, you got 100% destruction. More than once my ignition sequence failed and I had to re-light it. More than once I was glad for the "protective gear" I was wearing when the thing started off before I got clear. I'd find cases up to 100 feet from the pit if I used one that was too shallow. Bullets didn't go too far.

 

I used diesel to get it going (gas went up too fast and I didn't have much time to get clear, don't ask how I learned THAT lesson) and a road flare chucked in set it off with enough time to get myself out of range. One time I tried a "New" technique; m60 pull igniter, thirty seconds of time fuse and a little bag of smokless powder at the end. About the time I got back to the group my idiot boss tells me he stuck a bunch of expired parachute flares in there....launching ends UP. I had just enough time to grab my shield and the grabbers I use to pickup brass... worked pretty well on that time fuse!

 

This one time I didn't feel like setting up time fuse and crap so I did it the old fashioned way....except the flare I chucked in went out. Figuring that the burning end got knocked off when it landed, I took a new flare out there. The guys all made fun of me because I was wearing all my ballistic crap AND a shield. I didn't feel so stupid when I just get to the pit and the thing catches. I went back to using pull igniters and time fuse.....

 

One time the boss asked me what I did to put it out. Told him I didn't. He asked why and I directed him to the FD. (Their plan was the same as mine; let it burn) Then he asks me what about the ammo/explosive bunkers. I told him the same thing so he sends this PITA OSHA rep guy to inspect and he came with the fire marshal whom I knew. This OSHA guy wanted to make a big deal about we didn't have any fire extinguishers near our ammo/explosive bunkers. (He didn't like my answer when he asked what was our fire fighting plan for that area and I said LEAVE) Surprise-surprise when the FM told him the same thing and further stated they wouldn't even come on property. It was right about then I told him we'd bring the lawn chairs and we'd all sit at the store at the end of the road and drink cold ones til the fire was out. He tried to make a big deal out of that but I made a few phone calls to people that outranked him and he went away...mad.

 

Normally we destroyed fireworks the same way. This one time, one of the other guys made the run to property and decides he's going to destroy them himself. Yeah, takes the big box of everything fireworks (go to the fireworks store anywhere during 4th of July, pick one of everything and put it in a box, that's what this guy has) downrange with a BIC lighter and has at it. He was having fun until one of those spinning-jumping things spun and jumped right into his box! Oh, he tried to get it out but about the time the second bottle rocket went by his ear he ran for cover! (not fast enough)

 

Eventually I had a special dumpster set up with a heavy screen cover just for burning fireworks and ammo, the occasional gas round and other...ordinance. A buddy from another agency I won't mention asked to use it to destroy some fireworks they'd just confiscated and were too big for them to store in the property room. Seems this motor cop is diddy-bopping down the freeway and notices some dude driving a 1970's Ford with the back seat filled to the roof with cardboard boxes marked "fireworks-explosive"....and he was smoking!

 

So he stuffs my dumpster full of these 12" commercial fireworks mortars, some shredded paper, diesel and of course my favorite M60 pull igniter/time fuse setup. I had a class to teach so I was three ranges away when I hear the "earth-shattering ka-BOOM" and see a nice little mushroom cloud over that bay. (along with some pretty nice purple/red/green/yellow sparklies) I hot-foot it back over fearing my bomb guy friend has finally managed to blow himself up...on my range. Crap! Luckily both were far enough away when the thing went high order and the worst of their injuries was saying HUH? a lot. I guess black powder soaked in diesel can do that....