If God forbid you had a house fire......

[Palladan44]

Ever concerned what your reloading supplies or loaded ammunition would do in the event of a fire? Steps to mitigate via engineering controls/storage practices, communication, or otherwise? I thought about getting another fireproof safe just to store powder, primers and loaded ammunition, but have not done this yet.

As I'm im sure you all do as well, I care very much about the safety of my family and first responders.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Ammo and components burning in the open air is not near the safety issue as putting them in a steel box, which could become a bomb if the fire gets hot enough.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I always had this fire concert, What do you guy think about digging a root cellar and storing powder in there… just a little idea I had been thinking about.

 

[mcb]

This is one of the pinned thread in the General Discussion subforum:

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...on-ammunition-and-fire-fighter-safety.687125/

I think this will address the subject at hand. A fire in your home would be a disaster but reloading components and ammo are unlike to make it significantly worst.

 

[Bfh_auto]

I always had this fire concert, What do you guy think about digging a root cellar and storing powder in there… just a little idea I had been thinking about.

I've been thinking about doing the same thing. Mine is going to be for cured meat and veggies. But I would like to get the powder away from possible ignition sources.

Edit to change fire to for....

 

[Mark_Mark]

I've been thinking about doing the same thing. Mine is going to be a fire cured meat and veggies. But I would like to get the powder away from possible ignition sources.

Fire cure is smoked meat? or fire dried?

 

[mdi]

This is an often seen/debated topic on reloading forums. Mostly post by the "What if Brigade". I agree that a metal cabinet is good enouth as powder just burns outside of a confined space (cartridge case, ammo can, tightly closed small cabinet, etc. In a fire hot enough, a plastic powder container would melt and the powder burn, primers would pop like pop corn and loaded rounds will pop, spliting the case and not much else. Mostly not going to level the neighborhood or kill every firefighter in a 50 yard radius.Just like everything else reloading, think. Use common sense (My powder and primers live in two different cabinets. I don't have a 100 watt light bulb in my reloading cabinets and I don't store my components near a heat source (fireplace, wood stove room heater or when I would use my lead pot and/or hot plate). I would worry much more about my propane cylinders exploding in a fire (I have a couple in my SHTF supplies and one or two for smelting). In 74 years I have never had a house/garage/shed fire.

But I have seen quite a few reloaders post about their wooden powder storage "trunks" or cabinets, so if you wanna, go ahead, but think (I wouldn't store in a root cellar because of humidity/dampness, or place the trunk/cabinet next to a water heater or heater)...

 

[Mark_Mark]

This is an often seen/debated topic on reloading forums. Mostly post by the "What if Brigade". I agree that a metal cabinet is good enouth as powder just burns outside of a confined space (cartridge case, ammo can, tightly closed small cabinet, etc. In a fire hot enough, a plastic powder container would melt and the powder burn, primers would pop like pop corn and loaded rounds will pop, spliting the case and not much else. Mostly not going to level the neighborhood or kill every firefighter in a 50 yard radius.Just like everything else reloading, think. Use common sense (My powder and primers live in two different cabinets. I don't have a 100 watt light bulb in my reloading cabinets and I don't store my components near a heat source (fireplace, wood stove room heater or when I would use my lead pot and/or hot plate). I would worry much more about my propane cylinders exploding in a fire (I have a couple in my SHTF supplies and one or two for smelting). In 74 years I have never had a house/garage/shed fire.

But I have seen quite a few reloaders post about their wooden powder storage "trunks" or cabinets, so if you wanna, go ahead, but think (I wouldn't store in a root cellar because of humidity/dampness, or place the trunk/cabinet next to a water heater or heater)...

when we were little children, we would throw .22 in the camp fire and run, nothing ever happened

 

[HOWARD J]

We had a gun shop down the street set fire by robbers---fireman let it burn to ground---would not go near building.

 

[Blue68f100]

Use the fire proof safe for your guns and valuables. I would not recommend storing gun powder inside a safe. Like said you just made a bomb. Most all safes have a fire proof rating, time vs temp. But most are not water tight, so you may get water damage if you don't remove the contents and wipe them down good soon after a fire. But most of the time you not allowed in while they investigate the cause. So you will have some damage due to water. All my powder are in a wood cabinet like fire codes recommend. Primers are in a different cabinet 15-20' away. This is located in my shop 50 yrds away. Living out in the country, fire response will be 20+ min before they show up. By them it will probably be a total loss.

Best to prevent fires from happening.

Now under ground storage would be great provide you can keep it DRY. Most all under ground storage have pumps to remove water. So think damp.

 

[.308 Norma]

ver concerned what your reloading supplies or loaded ammunition would do in the event of a fire?

A fire would be a real disaster - from what I've heard, powder and primers are almost irreplaceable right now.
Seriously, I don't think gun powder and primers would make a house fire any worse. Black powder might be more of a hazard in the event of a house fire, but I don't even know that for sure.

 

[jmr40]

Fire dept. policy here, and in most places says that if ammo and powder are going off they stand down and let it burn. They will try to prevent it from spreading to other structures.

 

[red rick]

My nephews house just burnt to the ground last year . He didn’t reload but had some ammunition . The firemen were not that worried about the ammunition going off . They were mainly concerned of loaded guns going off . He had a nightstand safe and his loaded Glock 23 shot a nicely expanded hole through it . Only his plastic pistol were a total loss . All guns were cosmetically damaged . It took 9 months to rebuild his house . They lost everything but life and that is the most important thing . He has a 2 and 3 year old . Luckily it happened in the daytime and no one was napping .

 

[RashQuestion]

+1 on worry more about propane cylinders exploding in an enclosed area.

Sometimes things can get out of our control but I just keep my powder, primers and ammo in different but separate places.

Joe, working for Jake Wilcox (one of the members here), at RMR Bullets experienced a house fire and lost almost everything. He said it will take a long time to recover. I haven't spoken to him recently, but with God's Blessings, I hope he is doing much better. Truth be told, I hope you or I or anyone else never has to experience a house or business fire in our lifetime!!!

 

[Rule3]

It would be all over.

 

[Mark_Mark]

We had a gun shop down the street set fire by robbers---fireman let it burn to ground---would not go near building.

Don’t blame them, it’s just material things, lives matter

 

[higgite]

Besides the bomb possibility, I wouldn't want ammo or powder going off inside a safe that contains my guns and other valuables that I'm hoping are protected by a fire rated safe... external fire rated, that is.

 

[bluejay75]

when we were little children, we would throw .22 in the camp fire and run, nothing ever happened

Hold my beer! I will raise you .22, grip pliers and banging them on bricks. It shocks me I made it out of childhood with all my fingers and toes.

My powder is close to a door leading outside the house. I could probably get it outside unless the fire starts in the room it’s in.

 

[Mostly Lead]

Fortunately, the National Fire Protection Association has spelled out clear guidance on storage of powder and primers in NFPA 495. But the actual copy costs money...

SAAMI reprinted the relevant sections on powder (with permission from the NFPA) here: https://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/AboutTheCodes/495/495_F2022_EXP_AAA_FD_PIResponses.pdf

Their recommendations for storing Ammunition is here: https://saami.org/wp-content/upload...Ammunition-Storage-and-Handling-1-18-2018.pdf

And a couple more relevant videos regarding fire: https://saami.org/publications-advisories/smokeless-powder-and-the-fire-service/ https://saami.org/publications-advisories/sporting-ammunition-and-the-firefighter/

 

[barnfrog]

I am a first responder and I don't really worry about it. If you store it as NFPA recommends, and we do our job and put the wet stuff on the red stuff, you should be good.

If you're worried about the wooden container storage specs NFPA recommends and you're trying to keep the powder from getting destroyed, you could line the cabinet with sheet rock to increase the amount of time it will take for the heat to penetrate the box. But if you're just worried about it going boom and hurting someone, NFPA specs will do.

 

[edwardware]

I thought about getting another fireproof safe just to store powder, primers and loaded ammunition, but have not done this yet.

Unless you're trying to kill a couple firefighters, don't. That would be a bomb.

Instead, educate yourself over at https://saami.org/

 

[Seedy Character]

I HAD a house fire. Volunteer Fire Dept. I was at work, 15 miles away. Fire Dept was 6 blocks.

1st on scene was Police Dept. Parked in the middle of street at end of block.
2nd was myself. Drove through neighbor's yard to avoid Po-po
3rd was Ladies Auxiliary. Set up table with coffee and donuts, across the street.
VFD finally arrived. They walked around talking, looking, trying to figure out where the water was. You know, that short, red thing, over there on the corner.

I grab a hose and head to back corner of house. A fire fighter tried to stop me.

I point at the corner, " there is a storage cabinet in that corner. It contains 10k rounds of ammo and 60# of gun powder. "

He runs around gathering people. Fire was out in 5 minutes. Closed closets, nowhere near the fire were soaked.

 

[merlynski]

Got toned out some years back to a grass fire that caused a house fire and storage mobile home to burn. The storage mobile home was full of flammable items, like furniture, clothing and papers, and a stockpile of ammo (owner informed us when we arrived on scene). We just stayed back and let it burn. It popped and cracked just like in the video in post #4 above, eventually it ran out of fuel and died down, then we hosed it down and did rehab on it. Not all the ammo went off, but I would not have trusted any of it to be reliable after that. Not a single fragment got out of the building towards us, but it was not worth the risk to go into a fully involved burning structure with no people at risk inside.

 

[Riomouse911]

I’m hoping the sprinkler system my house was built with puts it out before it gets too bad. That’s the intent of the system I imagine.

That being said, as long as kids and wife are out and ok I guess I’ll worry about the burned stuff later.

Stay safe.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Fire cure is smoked meat? or fire dried?

It changed for to fire. I'll fix it.
It's dry aged bacon and hams mostly.