Indoor Range Fire/Explosion

[federali]

Witnessed Range Fire First-hand

I was firing prone with a revolver at an indoor range at the facilities of one of the major handgun manufacturers. The range points had tightly knit commercial carpeting on the floor where unburned powder, invisible to the eye, was slowly accumulating within the rug fibers.

Perhaps no one ever fired prone and the range did not receive enough maintenance. Either the muzzle flash or the flash at the cylinder gap ignited the powder. I got up off the floor and attempted to stamp out the fire but it was a hopeless cause. Worse, it took a minute or two to find a fire extinguisher and by that time, the fire had spread to about four square feet of carpeting.

Lesson learned: no carpeting on indoor range points and frequent vacuuming to remove unburned gunpowder.

 

[M29since14]

I notice the indoor range where I shoot has a concrete floor and I have seen the personnel lightly hosing down the floor before sweeping up the debris. I suppose it makes the job both easier and safer. (Maybe helps counter static electricity?)

 

[BB57]

I notice the indoor range where I shoot has a concrete floor and I have seen the personnel lightly hosing down the floor before sweeping up the debris. I suppose it makes the job both easier and safer. (Maybe helps counter static electricity?)

It probably also helps keep the dust down. It's not just powder residue but also possibly lead particles, even when the range is restricted to FMJ ammunition. There's also some nasty stuff in some priming compounds.

 

[BB57]

I was firing prone with a revolver at an indoor range at the facilities of one of the major handgun manufacturers. The range points had tightly knit commercial carpeting on the floor where unburned powder, invisible to the eye, was slowly accumulating within the rug fibers.

Perhaps no one ever fired prone and the range did not receive enough maintenance. Either the muzzle flash or the flash at the cylinder gap ignited the powder. I got up off the floor and attempted to stamp out the fire but it was a hopeless cause. Worse, it took a minute or two to find a fire extinguisher and by that time, the fire had spread to about four square feet of carpeting.

Lesson learned: no carpeting on indoor range points and frequent vacuuming to remove unburned gunpowder.

Watching that video it's pretty obvious that the volume of partially burnt powder that ignited was going to create enough heat to light that old, dry and painted flooring on fire. The walls also appear to be covered in acoustic egg crate foam. It's not only very flammable but also puts off very noxious and toxic smoke. It's another "fail" in their range design.

Unless they had a fairly substantial extinguisher on hand, or a sprinkler system, that range was going to be a total loss, with possibly significant damage to the rest of the building it was in.

 

[mtgianni]

Everything I have read, especially in the NRA's guide to handloading screams BS. I believe it was a fire but certainly not from smokeless powder or the miniscule amount that was built up in the floor. Numerous attemts to set off contained ammunition in a box of 1/4" plywood fail to have the bullet penetrate the box. Are we suppossed to believe that smokeless gunpowder, which requires massive amounts of pressure to cause a burn did this? I doubt that a lb of Black powder could have caused this much destruction. If it was a gas explosion in the same room the deetonation would be much more rapid and less of a fireball. I suspect that it was a gas-air mixture seeping through the floorboards and the length of the fireball was because of the restriction of flow to the ignition site. Ignition appears to be from the shotguns, though I have never seen such a fireball shooting outside. Most of the shooters were wearing vests, I would assume a police range inside a Government building. No idea if it was US or Foreign Agency. In either case there should be some write up about it.

 

[mtgianni]

Gun range in Brazil bursts into flames before military agents disappear in a MASSIVE EXPLOSION | Daily Mail Online
UK first report, I suspect more to follow after an investigation.

 

[2152hq]

The long-haired blonde gal was wearing sandals. Ouch.

I wonder if her hair survived the incident intact.

Dale

She never bothered to put any eye protection on before they started shooting. She was just interested in taking pics.

I wondered if the shooter on the line in the lower left of the screen ever bothered to put his glasses on either. But I think I see him slip them on and can just see the edge of the frames on the right side in one quick pic before he takes his position.


Bad stuff,,but I think there was more than just unburned powder at work.
Looked like it was something more pushing it along.

But unburned powder will ignite and burn inside the range quite easily.
The Marlin range used to experience a 'Range Fire' about once a week. They used to just let it burn itself out.
Kind of smokey but the exhaust vents took care of it OK.
They actually just kept shooting,,targeting and function firing dispite the fire as long as they could still see the CSTV screens of the targets..
It never got anywhere like that in the video. Instead it was just a low flame maybe 8 to 10" high or so and crawled along the floor of the range in a ever widening ring as it consumed the unburned powder.
With that many rounds being fired all day long, 2 shifts a day, 6 days a week,,it's bound to happen.

Then there was the backstop that didn't stop the 45-70's.
A factory wall and a few cars in the employee parking lot suffered for it.
No one was hit thankfully.

 

[Wise_A]

There was some liquid that spread out on the floor just before the fire.

That's fire.

Everything I have read, especially in the NRA's guide to handloading screams BS. I believe it was a fire but certainly not from smokeless powder or the miniscule amount that was built up in the floor.

Fires like this are well-known to happen in ranges with poor maintenance. Virtually inevitable--if you don't clean up, this is bound to happen given enough time. I actually spend a bit of time talking about it in my Range Safety Officer courses.

Protips:

*Sweep up regularly. There are vacuum cleaners you can buy, but don't use home ones.
*Have a fire extinguisher, but understand it's a tool of last resort.
*If there's a fire, don't screw around, get out.
*Don't use carpet as a range surface. It traps powder like nothing else.
*Have multiple exits.

Even if you do all this, fire is still a major range hazard.

Powder is always flammable, and it always burns with a lot of energy. It simply needs pressure to burn quickly. Every cartridge fired produces a small amount of unburned powder, some poor loads produce more.