With diesel-soaked hay and plenty of space to operate, Los Angeles firefighters last week set fire to a danger that had been secretly building in Pacoima.
For an unknown period of time, authorities say, a 24-year-old man had been accumulating a massive cache of fireworks in a rear home off Remington Street that for reasons still to be determined, suddenly detonated last week, exploding out in all directions. The man, who has not yet been identified, was hospitalized with burns over 50% of his body and faces possible charges when he’s released, authorities say.
But what was left under the rubble was a toxic stew of chemicals that authorities said could react unpredictably with water and was too dangerous to simply haul away.
It had to be burned.
“This is essentially a bomb,” Kenneth R. Cooper, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Los Angeles field office told reporters Friday. “We are going to use fire, slow methodic burn to alleviate that threat to public safety.”
Firefighters soaked hay in diesel fuel, then set fire to what remained of the unattached home that evening in a “controlled burn.” The pile eventually exploded in a dazzling array of white sparks.
But no neighboring properties were damaged, according to the city.
After a botched fireworks detonation in 2021 that the city had to settle for more than $21 million, authorities took no chances with the situation in Pacoima on Friday and evacuated the surrounding area.
Guadalupe Aguilera was among those who was asked to leave as authorities prepared to burn the remaining debris. She got to return on Saturday after the operation was done and said Monday she was grateful how they handled the situation.
“It was a hassle and we were scared but they did a good job overall,” she said.
The initial blast last week sent neighbors running outside, Aguilera said.
“The whole house shook. It felt like somebody rocked the house and then dropped it,” she said.
Neighbors heard moaning from the property and ran outside and found one of the buildings on the property in ruins. When authorities started to clear the neighborhood as a precaution, the Aguileras stayed behind because they weren’t sure how long they’d be kept out of their neighborhood, she said.
But when city officials came back around and said they were going to begin a controlled burn at the home, the couple cleared out.
“They told us we had to leave for our own safety because they didn’t know what type of damage the explosives would cause,” she said. “They were afraid the whole street would go up in the explosion.”
Police and other emergency officials stood on the street overnight and into the weekend, residents said.
By Monday afternoon, the property was wrapped in a wall of plywood that kept it mostly hidden from the street. The homes around it were protected from the explosion and fire Friday by fire-retardant gel and dirt berms, LAFD officials said.
Even for seasoned firefighting veterans, the idea of doing a controlled burn situation in a residential neighborhood was new.
“In my 25 years, I’ve never been on a controlled burn,” said LAFD Capt. Adam VanGerpen, who was assigned to the operation. “I think these were very unique circumstances.”
After they started the burn Friday, crews used a drone to get an overhead view of the property and deployed a remote-controlled firefighting vehicle to spray water onto the structure. Because it was unclear how much explosive materials were on the property, multiple agencies were on standby in case there was any potential disaster.
ATF and the LAPD bomb squad “determined that the best course was going to be to burn this off, and it would be the safest for everybody,” VanGerpen said.
The controlled burn went off without any additional damage to nearby structures or additional injuries. Neighbors said the windows on a nearby home were blown out by the initial explosion.
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