When you think about it, “gun safe” is kind of an oxymoron. Nothing safe about this gun safe! Sounds like it was a problem with gunpowder storage, since guns don’t typically explode, left to their own devices. (I have a family member who was badly burned at an indoor firing range when gunpowder on the floor ignited a fireball, so I pay attention to the danger it presents.) I hope Mrs. Wood comes out of this okay, and I also hope this horrible incident reminds people to treat gunpowder with the extreme caution it demands:
An Idaho state representative’s wife was injured Saturday after a room converted to a gun safe exploded at her home.
Amy Wood, wife of Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, as taken by air ambulance to an unspecified Utah hospital suffering from second-degree burns to her face and hands.
The incident occurred at 8:11 p.m., according to Burley Fire Chief Keith Martin. On Saturday evening, Martin said the owners of the home at 100 S. 147 E. were eating dinner when “they heard a sound like a 747 coming from the basement.”
Martin said an explosion from a room that was converted to a gun safe lifted up the patio slab at the back of the home and collapsed the patio roof. Martin said the patio slab appeared to be the roof of the gun safe room. Amy Wood was on the patio when the explosion occurred. The cause of the explosion is unknown at this time.
I wonder if the representative is re-loader and makes his own ammo… that could account for spilled gunpowder. I agree the guns themselves didn’t go off but the gunpowder — yeah, that could go off from a spark in the room.
Smokeless powder does not explode, it just burns. And normally people don’t store powder inside their gun safe, just guns and possibly ammo.
Black powder can explode, but how would it explode by just sitting in a gun safe ?
Mind you, this was not a minor explosion — it blew up part of their house. I’m curious to find out more. My guess is that the homeowner had something out of the ordinary in there.
Here’s an update — the fire was started by dirty rags with cleaning solvent.
http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=172216881&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10227
Ok, but that still doesn’t explain how a fire blew the house up ? Maybe he had a lot of black powder down there ?