I would have thought that it would have been good training for the bomb squad guys. after all they just sit around & wait for bombs to be found & then they say
"so sorry we are scared of bombs"
COME ON grow a set guys!!!!!:2thumb:
piglett
Piglett, Its a little more complicated than just saying the bomb squad is a little afraid of bombs - they are very afraid of explosives. As an explosives instructor the very first thing you must instill in those that work with explosives is to respect them more than anything you have ever respected in your life.
In the case of the homemade explosives (HME) factory in the story above, the reason that the decision to burn the home in place was for several reasons. First, the reason the police were notified is because the landscaper happened to just walk over / touch very sensitive HME which apparently detonated and caused injury. This makes for a very precarious situation where someone just happened upon the HME and it detonated and now the bomb squad must enter, discern and destroy the HME. Essentially everything in and around the residence needs to be considered hazardous and not knowing the state of the HME and if there are booby traps - the bomb squad was not willing to risk the lives of their troopers. This was not a hostage situation and therefore justification to place someone in a life threatening scenario was too risky. Second, HME can be very sensitive and not knowing at which stage in the manufacture process or the type of explosive you are facing is very, very dangerous. Just to give you an idea, the sensitive primary explosives that were found can have detonation velocities in excess of 26,000fps - thats right 5 miles per second is how fast they detonate - that should temper ones bravado. Third, all explosives are flammable and can be burned the tricky part is not having too much of an explosive stacked upon itself and then burned as the burning combined with the weight of the explosives can cause pressure which in turn can lead to a detonation. Burning in this case was a much safer alternative to finding, neutralizing or preparing the HME for transport and also safer than trying to detonate in place as that would essentially make the house a very large fragmentation sleeve that would threaten injury to the whole neighborhood.
On a side note, stay far away from the anarchist cookbook and like publications as the mixtures more often than not are slightly off and the means by which to mix are usually very dangerous. You are more likely to lose your hands or life than yielding actual explosives.
Dynamite can be stabilized with diesel fuel and then later used to burn as a means to destroy. Remember that dynamite that is crystallized or has pooling of liquid (nitroglycerin) is of the utmost concern and is very sensitive to heat, shock and friction. Do not attempt to move or touch on your own - call for help and just maybe the bomb squad will burn your home down too!