Ammo storage safety question?

[doberman]

There was a recent house fire around here and the fire dept would not extinguish it because there was ammo in the house. How should ammo be stored to avoid this? I have thousands of different rounds at any given time and store them in a steel cabinet with a lock. But I doubt that would do any good in case of a fire.

Help.

 

[jrhead75]

Fireproof gunsafe or lockbox are about the only things I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[EOD Guy]

It doesn't make sense that Fire Dept wouldn't fight the fire. A firefighter's normal turn out gear is sufficient to protect them from any brass that might be thrown around. As a matter of fact, the Uniform Fire Code does not limit the amount of small arms ammunition that can be stored in a residence.

 

[Standing Wolf]

...the fire dept would not extinguish it because there was ammo in the house.

Sounds mighty flaky to me. Cartridge cases pop in fires, but bullets don't go flying this way and that as though fired from guns.

 

[Top_Notch]

Assuming the rounds aren't chambered, how much force can they exert if they were to fire? I assume the brass would chuck further than the bullet since it is lighter.

 

[Moparmike]

They only pop? I have heard .22lr shells go off in a burning barrel. Odd.

 

[444]

This subject has been covered on here numerous times, I am sure a quick search will turn up some reading material.

I work as a professional firefighter. I have been on many fires with ammo cooking off. It poses very little danger. A friend of mine was struck in the chest by a round that cooked off. It hit is coat and fell on the ground. I have never seen a firefighter pay any attention at all to ammo cooking off. A chambered round very will might pose a threat, but I have never personally seen this occur.

I have to assume that this was a volunteer fire department.

 

[feedthehogs]

Down the street from my mom a guys house burned to the ground as the firefighters watched and threatened to arrest homeowner for trying to put out his house.
There was 22 ammo in the shed next to house.

House was a total loss.

 

[C.R.Sam]

I would think that if one DID keep it in a strong metal container, it would want to be one that easily self vents. To preclude building up a LOT of pressure.

Sam

 

[444]

"and threatened to arrest homeowner for trying to put out his house."

Under what authority ?

 

[TarpleyG]

Why tell them?? If it poses no danger then don't bother.

GT

 

[EOD Guy]

Why tell them?? If it poses no danger then don't bother.

It gets rather noisy when the ammo starts cooking off. It sounds a lot more dangerous than it really is.

 

[Mike Irwin]

MoparMike,

You heard the .22s going off in the barrel, but simply because they're cooking off doesn't mean that they post much of a danger, if any at all.

 

[Billy Sparks]

The only time I have ever heard of a problem was in Florida. House fire first in units roll up and they start taking fire. After the house fire was extinguished they found a M1 carbine had cooked off the round in the chamber and fired, hitting the Battalon Chief's truck. I want to say that the rifle fired 2 or 3 more times before the action failed.

I have to assume that this was a volunteer fire department

Anymore as more and more people are taught by the media to fear firearms more departments don't know the truth and are backing away for "safety". Matter of fact Firehouse magazine reported a FD in New York was "hampered" in putting out a house fire due to the "danger" of stored ammo. The quoted words are from Firehouse magazine.

 

[sm]

Not clear, whom told, or how did FD know about ammo?

Now a couple of us called the FD when a member passed away and the widow asked about some powder that had been in the attic for few years...we eased down slow upon seeing kegs of black powder, that's a bit different. Ammo and smokeless I subscribe to cool/dry/vented container.

Cooking off: well had the chance to test out some stuff when a farmer was building a pond, various ammo tossed in, yeah we took precautions. Loose ammo, boxes of ammo, no big deal, fireworks more dangerous. A box of sealed up tight 22lr in a metal box, made a dent. The worse offender, a disposable butane lighter. Reminded me of the time we thought if one stick of TNT good, two is gooder for a beaver dam...oops!

 

[444]

When I made the statement about the volunteer department, what I was trying to get at is that maybe they had never encountered this before. I could see this also happening in an area where guns would be rare and it is not often encountered. Here, guns are common and so is ammo cooking off in house fires. Pretty much everyone has experience with it and no one cares about it. Nothing derogatory was meant or implied about volunteer fire departments.
Stored ammo, might present a problem depending on how it was stored.
As Sam points out, it could be dangerous depending on how it is stored. But, I assumed we were just talking about a few boxes of cartridges in their factory box stored on the closet shelf or something like that.