LAPD Botches Illegal Fireworks Disposal With Catastrophic Results...

vienna · 07-06-21, 06:03 AM

In recent weeks, law enforcement all over Southern California have been rigorously cracking down on the importation, manufacturing, and sale of illegal fireworks in the run-up to the Fourth of July; aside from the extreme danger large caches of fireworks in residential areas poses, there is the consideration of extreme fire, wildfire, hazards to consider; the local LEOs have bee hauling in whopping huge amounts of illegal works, in the tons, with a very, very large percentage being imported from China either through West Coast ports or from wholesalers in Mexico; Last week, the LAPD was tipped off to a home where some 5,000 pounds (2-1/2 tons or 2,268 kg)) of fireworks was being stored and raided the place, seizing the contraband; the LAPD had to get a big semi-truck and forklifts to load all the pallets of fireworks and remove them from the site; they also found about 40 Coke can sized IEDs described by LAPD as "large M-80" type devices (M-80s were originally used to simulate artillery explosive hits in training by the US military, but later found popularity s a firework; the 'cherry bomb' is a smaller scale cousin of the M-80)...

The tons of other explosives were driven away from the scene in the bis semi truck, but the LAPD decided to bring in their specialized bomb squad explosive containment and disposal unit to deal with the IEDs; it is basically a semi truck platform with very large solid iron spherical containment unit supported by a heavy framework; there is a massive hatch, weighing some 500 pounds, on the containment sphere which, on the more recent models, is opened/closed by a remote control pad; the locking mechanism is similar to what is found in bank vaults...

The containment is rated to be able to handle 15 pounds (6.8 kg) of heavy explosives; the IEDs the LAPD found totaled about 10 pounds (4.54 kg); for some odd reason, someone in the LAPD made the decision to detonate the IEDs in the containment sphere on site rather that driving the bomb squad truck to another location; it did not go very well...

17 injured after an explosion inside a Los Angeles police bomb disposal truck --

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/01/us/lo...ion/index.html

The explosion was so massive, it damaged buildings within a 1/4 mile radius of the blast; the 500 pond containment sphere hatch was blown a distance of about 1/4-1/3 of a mile away, narrowly missing an occupied home; the local news TV ran footage of the blast from all sorts of angles, from the ground and aerial shots, and, I've got to say, it was reminiscent of the sort of footage you see when the Pentagon releases footage of a drone strike on a vehicle in the ME; the only blessing is the other semi, with the 2-1/2 tons of other explosives was not near when the explosion happened...

The LAPD is in major damage control mode now; aside from the actual injuries and physical damage to property, sharp questions are being asked about the decision making processes used to justify exploding in place; the normal procedure is to place the dangerous explosive items in the sphere and drive them away to a remote area, away from causing potential injury or damage to the public, and either defuse or detonate the items safely; somebody, in this case, thought it was a real good idea to run a real risky detonation in a residential street, with civilians in very close proximity; the blast was so massive, some houses at the blast site re so damaged they are unsafe for habitation, and others have significant, serious, damage; the ATF moved in very quickly and the whole area is now an active crime scene, meaning, until the LAPD and the ATF have completed their investigations, residents cannot go back to their homes and are being aided by the Re Cross, who are putting the families up at nearby motels; the latest estimate is it will this Friday, the 9th, at the earliest, before the displaced residents can go home...

Adding to the LAPD miseries is the blast took place in a lower income, minority area and questions are now being asked, if the cache of explosives were found in an affluent or business area, would the LAPD have elected to detonate in place so readily, which is a fair question, given normal protocol is to remove potentially dangerous material away from civilians/civilian property...

I've seen the LAPD bomb containment units in person a couple of times, both in decades past, in the 90s; both times, it was an earlier version of the unit, without the remote controlled hatch (it was was closed and bolted manually); the first time it was just the unit and one police car, driving causally down the street; the second time, it was here in Hollywood, but in a very different configuration; apparently, a suspicious device was found on Hollywood Blvd. and the LAPD placed it in the sphere and, as I was walking towards the BLVD., I was passed by the sight of the LAPD completely blocking the street, another six-lane street, by sending squad cars ahead to block intersections while a line of squad cars formed up in rank about three or four car lengths in front of the bomb disposal rig, from curb to curb,and another rank of squad cars formed up behind, with the whole procession slowly and carefully moving away from the area; needless to say, it would appear such caution and care seems to have been lacking in the most recent incident...

There is much community uproar for full accountability for those responsible for the debacle, with calls for immediate dismissal of those who made the decision(s) and possible criminal filings against them; certainly it would seem some degree of criminal negligence is at play here...

What is galling is, whoever in the LAPD made that call, they placed, needlessly and and negligently the lives of fellow officers, many of whom were injured in the blast...

<O>

Reece · 07-06-21, 07:26 AM

Wow, one wonders what type of explosive was used, certainly not black powder!!

Hopefully no serious injuries or deaths, but man, what a blast!!

3catcircus · 07-06-21, 07:41 AM

The best part is all of the fireworks people throughout LA lit off on the 4th without blowing stuff up or causing damage to their neighbors homes...

Nanny state in action.

Catfish · 07-06-21, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reece

[...]Hopefully no serious injuries or deaths, but man, what a blast!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3catcircus

Nanny state in action.

Fixed..

Jimbuna · 07-06-21, 12:05 PM

Appears to me they may not have realised precisely what it was they were dealing with.

3catcircus · 07-06-21, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Appears to me they may not have realised precisely what it was they were dealing with.

Doesn't engender a feeling of trust in their abilities to handle bombs intended to harm people if they can't manage to dispose of fireworks... without harming people.

Platapus · 07-06-21, 04:02 PM

Not to get too far in the techno babble, it had to do with the duration of the burn pulses between explosives at the higher end (faster burn rate) as opposed to the burn pulse duration with explosives at the lower end (slower burn rate).

The pressure from the lower speed detonation exceeded the capability of the container to flex and vent.

A very simple explanation for something that is rather complicated.

EOD messed up on this one. Some tech was focusing on the amount of "explosives" and decided that the total weight was lower than the rating of the container. He or she did this without considering the different effects that different explosives can have during the detonation pulse.

I don't know where the failure was

- Training
- Supervision
- Complacency
- Impatience

Could be a combination of these and some others.

Bottom line is that this was entirely preventable.

07-06-21, 06:03 AM	#1
vienna Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Anywhere but the here & now... Posts: 7,711 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	LAPD Botches Illegal Fireworks Disposal With Catastrophic Results... In recent weeks, law enforcement all over Southern California have been rigorously cracking down on the importation, manufacturing, and sale of illegal fireworks in the run-up to the Fourth of July; aside from the extreme danger large caches of fireworks in residential areas poses, there is the consideration of extreme fire, wildfire, hazards to consider; the local LEOs have bee hauling in whopping huge amounts of illegal works, in the tons, with a very, very large percentage being imported from China either through West Coast ports or from wholesalers in Mexico; Last week, the LAPD was tipped off to a home where some 5,000 pounds (2-1/2 tons or 2,268 kg)) of fireworks was being stored and raided the place, seizing the contraband; the LAPD had to get a big semi-truck and forklifts to load all the pallets of fireworks and remove them from the site; they also found about 40 Coke can sized IEDs described by LAPD as "large M-80" type devices (M-80s were originally used to simulate artillery explosive hits in training by the US military, but later found popularity s a firework; the 'cherry bomb' is a smaller scale cousin of the M-80)... The tons of other explosives were driven away from the scene in the bis semi truck, but the LAPD decided to bring in their specialized bomb squad explosive containment and disposal unit to deal with the IEDs; it is basically a semi truck platform with very large solid iron spherical containment unit supported by a heavy framework; there is a massive hatch, weighing some 500 pounds, on the containment sphere which, on the more recent models, is opened/closed by a remote control pad; the locking mechanism is similar to what is found in bank vaults... The containment is rated to be able to handle 15 pounds (6.8 kg) of heavy explosives; the IEDs the LAPD found totaled about 10 pounds (4.54 kg); for some odd reason, someone in the LAPD made the decision to detonate the IEDs in the containment sphere on site rather that driving the bomb squad truck to another location; it did not go very well... 17 injured after an explosion inside a Los Angeles police bomb disposal truck -- https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/01/us/lo...ion/index.html The explosion was so massive, it damaged buildings within a 1/4 mile radius of the blast; the 500 pond containment sphere hatch was blown a distance of about 1/4-1/3 of a mile away, narrowly missing an occupied home; the local news TV ran footage of the blast from all sorts of angles, from the ground and aerial shots, and, I've got to say, it was reminiscent of the sort of footage you see when the Pentagon releases footage of a drone strike on a vehicle in the ME; the only blessing is the other semi, with the 2-1/2 tons of other explosives was not near when the explosion happened... The LAPD is in major damage control mode now; aside from the actual injuries and physical damage to property, sharp questions are being asked about the decision making processes used to justify exploding in place; the normal procedure is to place the dangerous explosive items in the sphere and drive them away to a remote area, away from causing potential injury or damage to the public, and either defuse or detonate the items safely; somebody, in this case, thought it was a real good idea to run a real risky detonation in a residential street, with civilians in very close proximity; the blast was so massive, some houses at the blast site re so damaged they are unsafe for habitation, and others have significant, serious, damage; the ATF moved in very quickly and the whole area is now an active crime scene, meaning, until the LAPD and the ATF have completed their investigations, residents cannot go back to their homes and are being aided by the Re Cross, who are putting the families up at nearby motels; the latest estimate is it will this Friday, the 9th, at the earliest, before the displaced residents can go home... Adding to the LAPD miseries is the blast took place in a lower income, minority area and questions are now being asked, if the cache of explosives were found in an affluent or business area, would the LAPD have elected to detonate in place so readily, which is a fair question, given normal protocol is to remove potentially dangerous material away from civilians/civilian property... I've seen the LAPD bomb containment units in person a couple of times, both in decades past, in the 90s; both times, it was an earlier version of the unit, without the remote controlled hatch (it was was closed and bolted manually); the first time it was just the unit and one police car, driving causally down the street; the second time, it was here in Hollywood, but in a very different configuration; apparently, a suspicious device was found on Hollywood Blvd. and the LAPD placed it in the sphere and, as I was walking towards the BLVD., I was passed by the sight of the LAPD completely blocking the street, another six-lane street, by sending squad cars ahead to block intersections while a line of squad cars formed up in rank about three or four car lengths in front of the bomb disposal rig, from curb to curb,and another rank of squad cars formed up behind, with the whole procession slowly and carefully moving away from the area; needless to say, it would appear such caution and care seems to have been lacking in the most recent incident... There is much community uproar for full accountability for those responsible for the debacle, with calls for immediate dismissal of those who made the decision(s) and possible criminal filings against them; certainly it would seem some degree of criminal negligence is at play here... What is galling is, whoever in the LAPD made that call, they placed, needlessly and and negligently the lives of fellow officers, many of whom were injured in the blast... <O> __________________ __________________________________________________ __

07-06-21, 07:26 AM	#2
Reece CINC Pacific Fleet Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Down Under Posts: 34,688 Downloads: 171 Uploads: 0	Wow, one wonders what type of explosive was used, certainly not black powder!! Hopefully no serious injuries or deaths, but man, what a blast!! __________________ *Sub captains go down with their ship!*

07-06-21, 12:05 PM	#5
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,461 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	Appears to me they may not have realised precisely what it was they were dealing with. __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

07-06-21, 04:02 PM	#7
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,360 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	Not to get too far in the techno babble, it had to do with the duration of the burn pulses between explosives at the higher end (faster burn rate) as opposed to the burn pulse duration with explosives at the lower end (slower burn rate). The pressure from the lower speed detonation exceeded the capability of the container to flex and vent. A very simple explanation for something that is rather complicated. EOD messed up on this one. Some tech was focusing on the amount of "explosives" and decided that the total weight was lower than the rating of the container. He or she did this without considering the different effects that different explosives can have during the detonation pulse. I don't know where the failure was - Training - Supervision - Complacency - Impatience Could be a combination of these and some others. Bottom line is that this was entirely preventable. __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.

07-06-21, 07:41 AM	#3
3catcircus Grey Wolf Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 979 Downloads: 256 Uploads: 0	The best part is all of the fireworks people throughout LA lit off on the 4th without blowing stuff up or causing damage to their neighbors homes... Nanny state in action.