With diesel-soaked hay and ample space for operation, Los Angeles firefighters ignited a danger secretly built in Pacoima last week.
Authorities say the 24-year-old man had accumulated a massive cache of fireworks in his home on Remington Street. The man, who has not yet been identified, is hospitalized with more than 50% of his body burns and faces possible charges when he is released, authorities say.
However, what remained under the tile rub was too dangerous to simply carry out the authorities, as they could react with the water unpredictably.
It had to be burned.
“It’s essentially a bomb,” Kenneth R. Cooper, a special agent responsible for the Los Angeles Field offices of the Alcohol Bureau, cigarettes, firearms and explosives, told reporters Friday. “We use fires, slow, orderly burns to mitigate that threat to public safety.”
Firefighters soaked hay in diesel fuel and set the rest of the house on fire that night, not suffering from “controlled burns.” The mountain eventually exploded with a dazzling array of white sparks.
However, the city said the nearby properties were not damaged.
After the failed fireworks explosion in 2021, the city had to settle for more than $21 million, so authorities on Friday did not give the Pacoima situation a chance and evacuated the surrounding area.
Guadalupe Aguilera was among those asked to leave as the authorities were preparing to burn the remaining pieces. She returned on Saturday after the surgery was completed and said she was grateful for how they handled the situation on Monday.
“It was a hassle and we were scared, but they did a good job overall,” she said.
The first explosion last week caused a neighbor to run outside, Aguilera said.
“The whole house was shaking. It felt like someone had rocked the house and then dropped it,” she said.
The neighbor heard a moan from the property and ran outside to find one of the buildings on the ruins’ grounds. When authorities began clearing the neighborhood as a precaution, Aguilera stayed behind as they didn’t know how long they were kept from their neighborhood, she said.
However, when city officials returned and said they would start a controlled burn at home, the couple cleaned up.
“They said we had no idea what damage the explosives would do, so we had to leave for our own safety,” she said. “They were afraid the whole street would go up in the explosion.”
Police and other emergency officials were standing on the street over the weekend overnight, residents said.
By Monday afternoon, the property was wrapped in plywood walls, so most of it was hidden from the streets. The houses around it were protected from explosions and fires by fire delayed gel and dirt balm on Friday, LAFD officials said.
The idea of even veteran firefighter veterans doing controlled burn situations in residential areas was new.
“In my 25 years, I had no controlled burns,” said LafdCapt, assigned to the surgery. Adam Vangerpen said. “I think these were very unique situations.”
After they began burning on Friday, crews used drones to get an overhead view of the property, deploying remotely controlled fire trucks to spray water on the structure. It was unclear how many facilities had explosive material, so multiple agencies were on standby in the event of a potential disaster.
The ATF and LAPD bomb squad “we decided that the best course is to burn this and that it was the safest for everyone,” Vangelpen said.
The controlled burns disappeared without additional damage to nearby structures or additional injuries. The neighbor said the windows of the nearby house were blown away by the first explosion.
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