Honey, They Blew Up The Bomb Truck!

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

LAPD goes out to collect illegal fireworks and ....

At least 17 injured as police dispose of illegal fireworks in South LA - UPI.com

At least 17 people were injured and buildings were damaged in a "significant explosion" that occurred while authorities were disposing of illegal fireworks in South Los Angeles.

www.upi.com

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Dude, Where's my Bomb Truck?

 

[trenchfoot]

Somebody tell the guy that was smoking a cig around the munitions that he/she shouldn't do that again, or that static electricity has a way of making sparks fly juuuussst when you really don't need it to.

 

[Pohemi]

'LAPD Chief Michel Moore told reporters during a Wednesday night press conference the vehicle should have been able to withstand the explosion.

"Something happened in that containment vehicle that should not have happened, and we don't know why," Moore said. "But we intend to find out why." '

This is what crossed my mind as soon as I saw these pics of the bomb truck losing its shit...I wonder wth happened? Maybe there was something set in the back of the truck, but not inside a properly pressurized detonation chamber? /shrug

 

[KB]

Why do it in a neighborhood? Take it out to the country and blow it up. This is going to cost LA taxpayers a lot and no-one will get fired.

 

[Pohemi]

Why do it in a neighborhood? Take it out to the country and blow it up. This is going to cost LA taxpayers a lot and no-one will get fired.

How much of the city and other packed neighborhoods or roads full of traffic would they have had to travel through to get it out of the city? You realize how large L.A. is and what "out in the country" would entail, right? Travelling/moving with possibly unstable materials? Not safe.

That is WHY they have trucks with pressurized detonation chambers in them...what happened to that truck is not typical, and normally this is done relatively safely.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

This is what crossed my mind as soon as I saw these pics of the bomb truck losing its shit...I wonder wth happened? Maybe there was something set in the back of the truck, but not inside a properly pressurized detonation chamber?

That is WHY they have trucks with pressurized detonation chambers in them...what happened to that truck is not typical, and normally this is done relatively safely.

One too many kabooms? Do these rigs get stressed/fatigued after so many? How often are they inspected/certified?

Or, something more than sparklers in those firecrackers?

That looks like an awfully big boom for 10 lbs.

 

[Pohemi]

That looks like an awfully big boom for 10 lbs.

It depends, not just what the material was (gunpowder? C4? Symtex?) but also how it was contained. Was the explosive material in a sealed container and/or pressurized? It's going to increase the destructive force of the blast.

Like I stated above, I have a feeling that it's possible something was placed into the truck, just not in the proper area (or detonation chamber wasn't properly shut and sealed? IDK)

It definitely looks like something that typical fireworks should not have been capable of, had everything been handled according to SOP and gone as planned.

Someone, or something (like the detonation chamber) failed somewhere along the checklist.

These are probably some of the most careful and cautious-by-nature people on the PD, but mistakes do still happen, they're still fallible humans like the rest of us.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

**I think** I read on msn or cnn it was 250 or 200 pounds of fire works

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

**I think** I read on msn or cnn it was 250 or 200 pounds of fire works

From the article above:


"He described them as 40 home-made devices the size of Coca-Cola cans with simple fuses and 200 smaller but similar devices.

The material was taken to a “total containment vehicle,” Moore said. The multi-ton semi-tractor trailer rig has a spherical iron chamber that is designed to safely detonate explosives.

Moore said less than 10 pounds of material was placed in the chamber, far less than its safety rating.

“This vessel should have been able to dispose of that material,” he said but instead there was a “total, catastrophic failure of that containment vehicle.""

 

[dank69]

Why do it in a neighborhood? Take it out to the country and blow it up. This is going to cost LA taxpayers a lot and no-one will get fired.

Nah, just park it in a poor neighborhood. Nobody gives a shit about the poors anyway.

 

[sdifox]

Me think theanufacturer of the truck has some explaining to do

 

[Vic]

Thank God the LAPD protected the citizens from the great danger of illegal fireworks!

Oh.. wait.

 

[trenchfoot]

From my experience using cratering charges to destroy roads, tunnels etc. to deny the bad guys their use of such, from what I saw it seems to me (correct me if I'm wrong here) the explosives were not properly identified(?). It would be logical to assume the IED's were packed with explosives derived from the fireworks but may have actually been higher grade semtex or similar.

Just my WAG given avaialble knowledge.

 

[Pohemi]

From my experience using cratering charges to destroy roads, tunnels etc. to deny the bad guys their use of such, from what I saw it seems to me (correct me if I'm wrong here) the explosives were not properly identified(?). It would be logical to assume the IED's were packed with explosives derived from the fireworks but may have actually been higher grade semtex or similar.

Just my WAG given avaialble knowledge.

Yeah, I wondered about the home-made soda can-sized wicked devices. Those were likely what went into the detonation chamber as they couldn't be readily identified as labeled, retail pyrotechnics (fireworks).

 

[hal2kilo]

Yeah, I wondered about the home-made soda can-sized wicked devices. Those were likely what went into the detonation chamber as they couldn't be readily identified as labeled, retail pyrotechnics (fireworks).

If they were filled with ammonium perchlorate and aluminum powder, that would be quite the explosion.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

They'll be checking some of the things we've wondered about:

"Investigators want to determine why the explosion occurred — including whether there was human error gauging the potential power of the explosives or failing to follow protocols to ensure containment or mechanical error with the truck.

There are also questions about why the explosives were not moved to a more remote location before being detonated, and whether more people should have been evacuated from the area before the detonation.

Moore promised a comprehensive review of the incident that would take into account the age of the containment vehicle and its history, as well as the power of the improvised explosives."

'Total catastrophic failure': LAPD faces questions over fireworks explosion that hurt 17

 

[balloonshark]

Is it just me or does this look like optimus prime drove through the wrong LA neighborhood? I smell a cover up.

 

[woolfe9998]

This reminds me of that case from way back in the 70's where there was a dead beached sperm whale somewhere in Oregon and the state government decided to try using dynamite to blow up the corpse so they could more easily remove it. Unfortunately the resulting explosion hurled whale parts and blubber over 800 feet, wrecking various cars and damaging properties.

Ah, here it is.

Exploding whale - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The explosives-expert veteran's brand-new convertible automobile, purchased during a "Get a Whale of a Deal" promotion in a nearby city, was damaged by a piece of airborne whale flesh which landed upon the roof.

Doh!

 

[pmv]

Six were over the age of 50,

Why does that merit a special mention? Is it that since COVID the 'over 50s' are now considered an especially frail and vulnerable group?

 

[pmv]

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

"The one-ton lid of the vessel flew into a backyard two blocks away, breaking a lemon tree and damaging the house."

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-07-03/man-faces-federal-charges-after-explosion-in-neighborhood

 

[manly]

Thank God the LAPD protected the citizens from the great danger of illegal fireworks!

Oh.. wait.

I have no idea what was detonated here or how much, but people should view videos of illegal fireworks in L.A. County a year ago. It was insane the fireworks that civilians were shooting into the skies (seemingly smaller versions of commercial fireworks), AND how much of it was being fired for hours. The air in the L.A. basin reeked of gunpowder smoke for days.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Chief Michel Moore said five members of the department’s bomb squad have been removed from field duties as the investigation continues. They could face discipline.


The bomb technicians — without using a scale, as is allowed by Los Angeles police procedures — estimated the weight of the homemade explosives and a counter-charge to be about 16.5 pounds (7.48 kilograms).

Federal authorities who weighed the remains after the blast calculated that the weight was actually more than 42 pounds (19 kilograms).

The detonation chamber's maximum capacity is 25 pounds (11 kilograms), Moore said.

The truck-mounted chamber used during the June 30 explosion had been in service for a decade and this was its 42nd time in use.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-07-19/chief-bomb-squad-caused-los-angeles-fireworks-explosion

How do you calculate the weight of what isn't there any more?

 

[sdifox]

Chief Michel Moore said five members of the department’s bomb squad have been removed from field duties as the investigation continues. They could face discipline.


The bomb technicians — without using a scale, as is allowed by Los Angeles police procedures — estimated the weight of the homemade explosives and a counter-charge to be about 16.5 pounds (7.48 kilograms).

Federal authorities who weighed the remains after the blast calculated that the weight was actually more than 42 pounds (19 kilograms).

The detonation chamber's maximum capacity is 25 pounds (11 kilograms), Moore said.

The truck-mounted chamber used during the June 30 explosion had been in service for a decade and this was its 42nd time in use.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-07-19/chief-bomb-squad-caused-los-angeles-fireworks-explosion

How do you calculate the weight of what isn't there any more?

I imagine they figured out the compound and calculated backwards.

Also, that is definitely bulk, was it bought online?