Ammo and fires
- Thread starter RSR
- Start date
I've seen that video before and the testing did seem legit, but I would like to share a first had experience that had some potentially different results. We had a structure fire where the owner had literally tens of thousands of rifle rounds in the basement. Long story short, the fire was well involved and the ammo started to cook off. It sounded like a full blown firefight with rounds zipping all over the place. We pulled back and had to wait for things to settle down, using an aerial ladder for the primary attack ( it ended up with an unexplained hole in one of the upper rungs. I have pictures I will try to post that show pock marks in the foundation and the steel basement window frame that I would not want to be on the receiving end of. Now, we did find a shit load of bullets scattered around that just popped without a lot of force, but some defiantly had some force behind them. Bottom line, never a good idea to just assume ammo will just harmlessly pop, not worth it and I won't send my guys into any similar circumstance. Like I said, I will try to post the pics, they tell the story better.
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I have a buddy that is a firefighter that has a nice scar above his lip where a round cooked off and a piece of brass ripped through his SCBA. He said it was like getting hit in the mouth with a hammer. My vote is its still dangerous.
I have been on plenty of structure fires over the years and while I have never seen anything like Hammertime or JS's friend we have seen boxed rounds go off and penetrate walls through both sides of the sheetrock. One of my firefighters on my engine company years ago took a round to the side of the head and it caused a slight abrasion but that was it. Our policy with ammo going off in a structure fire is to error on the side of safety and pull back. While the risk may be substantially less there is still a risk that needs to be factored into the decision making process.
Glad to see some real research type activities formed to see what really happens.
Knowledge is power.
Knowledge is power.
