Monday, December 6, 2010

For Safety: Authorities will burn down Escondido bomb making house

Explosive-laden Calif. home to be destroyed

To read full news article click on "Explosive-laden" above. Find quote from news article below

Authorities went into the home after Jakubec was arrested, but encountered a maze of floor-to-ceiling junk and explosives that included 13 unfinished shrapnel grenades.
Bomb experts pulled out about nine pounds of explosive material and detonated it, but they soon realized it was too dangerous to continue given the quantity of hazardous substances. A bomb-disposing robot was ruled out because of the obstacle of all the junk Jakubec hoarded.
That left only one option — burn the home down.
[Photo: Unabomber’s infamous property for sale]
San Marcos Fire Chief Todd Newman acknowledges it is no small feat: Authorities have never dealt with destroying such a large quantity of dangerous material in the middle of a populated area, bordered by a busy eight-lane freeway.
"This is a truly unknown situation," said Neal Langerman, the top scientist at the safety consulting firm, Advanced Chemical Safety in San Diego. "They've got a very good inventory of what's in there. Do I anticipate something going wrong? No. But even in a controlled burn, things occasionally go wrong."
He said the burning of the house would provide "an amazing textbook study" for bomb technicians in the future.
San Diego County authorities plan to burn the home Wednesday but need near perfect weather, with no rain, no fog, and only light winds blowing toward the east, away from the city. They have warned residents in the danger zone that they will be given less than 24 hours notice to evacuate their homes for a day, and that nearby Interstate 15, connecting the area to San Diego, will be closed.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency, and hospitals will be on standby in case there is a rash of people getting sick, Newman said. end quote.

This should be interesting because no one that I know if in the U.S. has ever burned a house so full of bomb making material in the middle of a residential area before. I found it interesting that in addition to evacuating all nearby residents they will also close a nearby freeway and notify all local hospitals in case of accidents that could result because of the amount of explosives present as the house burns down hopefully in a controlled way.

No comments: