Author Topic: LAPD bomb squad truck explodes during fireworks detonation, injuring 17  (Read 1497 times)

MechAg94

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https://nypost.com/2021/07/01/lapd-bomb-squad-truck-explodes-during-firework-detonation-event/

Quote
The enormous blast came after authorities confiscated over 5,000 pounds of illegal fireworks from a South Los Angeles home. One person was arrested, according to CBSLA and the LAPD.
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“Some of the fireworks were being stored in our Bomb Squad trailer as a precautionary measure. Unknown at this time what caused an explosion,” the department said.

https://youtu.be/1L4LgDbkr7c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW3A9wQcsDA

There might have been more in there besides black cats.  However, I don't know what that bomb truck is designed to handle.

“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

230RN

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Good thing it wasn't near a warehouse full of AN.*

I think I read in Jack Kelly's Gunpowder book that even black powder will show detonation characteristics if there's more than about 25lb involved.  I think that's for an open pile of it though.  (Could have been Hatcher, IDR.) I don't know what happens if you have 5000lb of it cased up in fire crackers and aerial salutes and like that there. I think that much of it is supposed to be in a magazine.

Great book, by the way:

https://www.amazon.com/Gunpowder-Alchemy-Bombards-Pyrotechnics-Explosive/dp/0465037186

Very thorough, very readable.

Terry, 230RN

*Search "Beiirut explosion"
« Last Edit: July 03, 2021, 10:48:21 AM by 230RN »

JTHunter

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IIRC, most firecrackers are filled with aluminum powder, not black powder.
Years ago (before I wised up), I would take used roman candle tubes, clean out the inside with a wooden dowel, then cut the tube into 3 pieces.  I would pack a piece of paper towel in one end, nearly fill it with some 4F BP, then pack more wadding on top.  I would indent the wadding slightly so I could put a little glue in the ends of the tube.  After it dried, I used an ice pick to make a small hole in the middle of the side and insert a piece of water-proof cannon fuse.
Being BP, they make a nice loud bang with a fair amount of smoke - usually.
  ;)
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230RN

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IIRC, most firecrackers are filled with aluminum powder, not black powder.
Years ago (before I wised up), I would take used roman candle tubes, clean out the inside with a wooden dowel, then cut the tube into 3 pieces.  I would pack a piece of paper towel in one end, nearly fill it with some 4F BP, then pack more wadding on top.  I would indent the wadding slightly so I could put a little glue in the ends of the tube.  After it dried, I used an ice pick to make a small hole in the middle of the side and insert a piece of water-proof cannon fuse.
Being BP, they make a nice loud bang with a fair amount of smoke - usually.
  ;)

You are right, I mis-spoke.  Most fireworks are filled with variants of flash powder: Aluminum and Potassium chlorate or perchlorate and sometimes sulfur...plus the coloring agents.  The sparkles are usually titanium chips.

You used to be able to buy flash powder directly from ads in the photography magazines.

The lifting charges are, however, black powder.  Forgive me; I just had black powder on my mind. 

230RN

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Double post

Angel Eyes

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From a friend of mine:  "You know you're buying good fireworks when the seller gives you a high four."

"I make love to men daily, but in the imagination."
                         - Barack Obama

230RN

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^ roffle

Coat-tailing on that:

And whose nickname is "Lefty."

Hawkmoon

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Update: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/07/05/authorities-charge-Los-Angeles-man-following-fireworks-explosion-that-inured-17-people/6911625472145/

The clown had 32,000 pounds of fireworks and explosives stashed in his home and yard. If anything had set that off, the crater would have swallowed half the city.

God only knows what all was in that pile. Supposedly the bomb squad had ten pounds in the truck when they blew it, and the truck was supposed to be rated for 50 pounds (of what I'm not sure -- black powder? TNT? Nitroglycerine?).
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RoadKingLarry

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Quote
If anything had set that off, the crater would have swallowed half the city.

It's Los Angeles, I'm having a hard time seeing the downside there   :rofl: :rofl:
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WLJ

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If anything had set that off, the crater would have swallowed half the city.

It's Los Angeles, I'm having a hard time seeing the downside there   :rofl: :rofl:

That still leaves the other half
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RoadKingLarry

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Every journey begins with but a single step.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

Samuel Adams

Brad Johnson

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It's all about the pancakes, people.
"And he thought cops wouldn't chase... a STOLEN DONUT TRUCK???? That would be like Willie Nelson ignoring a pickup full of weed."
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bedlamite

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Update: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/07/05/authorities-charge-Los-Angeles-man-following-fireworks-explosion-that-inured-17-people/6911625472145/

The clown had 32,000 pounds of fireworks and explosives stashed in his home and yard. .

Madre de todas las bombas de garaje     :O


bob

MechAg94

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It's Los Angeles, I'm having a hard time seeing the downside there   :rofl: :rofl:
I seem to remember reading L.A. covers over 400 square miles.  It would take a sizeable nuke to cover half the city.  That is a bit beyond normal fireworks. 
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

RoadKingLarry

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I seem to remember reading L.A. covers over 400 square miles.  It would take a sizeable nuke to cover half the city.  That is a bit beyond normal fireworks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AEj3LA2vSo
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

Samuel Adams

MechAg94

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AEj3LA2vSo
You have to admit, it would be a bit of a tragic joke if someone put a nuke in a bomb disposal trailer and set it off.  (only in LA or other select location)
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

Hawkmoon

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WLJ

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griz

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From the article:

Quote
adding that the officers also appear to have miscalculated the weight of the explosives they used to cause the controlled blast.

I have no experience with blowing up things, but wouldn't knowing the weight of the explosives you are using be kind of a Bomb Squad 101?  That would be like a baker miscalculating a cup of flour.
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French G.

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I still think we aren’t getting the full story. Says they miscalculated by a factor of two. Most things designed to contain explosions such as guns or pressure vessels are proofed at double the working load.  I am reminded of so government employees who maintained a remote bombing range and had C-4 to break up the concrete practice bombs. They wanted a tree gone and decided C-4 was the answer. Nobody knew how much so after careful deliberation they settled on 50lbs. Not sure if any of the tree hit the space station.
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I'm so contrarian that I didn't respond to the thread.

Brad Johnson

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It was stable enough to carry to the truck but not stable enough to place on a scale? Does not compute, Will Robinson.

Brad
It's all about the pancakes, people.
"And he thought cops wouldn't chase... a STOLEN DONUT TRUCK???? That would be like Willie Nelson ignoring a pickup full of weed."
-HankB

French G.

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It was stable enough to carry to the truck but not stable enough to place on a scale? Does not compute, Will Robinson.

Brad

Police department has redshirts too.
AKA Navy Joe   

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cordex

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A more recent report I read indicated that the "explosive weight" is a conversion from the actual weight of the explosives to TNT equivalent, so it isn't as simple as setting the fireworks on a bathroom scale and seeing what comes out.  They had to estimate the weight of the flash powder inside the fireworks and then convert it.

They also said they estimated weight instead of weighing each one to reduce handling of the devices.

In any case, they messed up but good.

MechAg94

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Sounds like they would have been better advised to haul it in small lots out to a remote place to dispose of it. 
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge