Indoor range caught fire today

M

mikejonestkd

New member
One of the best local ranges near me caught fire this afternoon

Its still early in the investigation- in fact they are still pouring water on the rubber back stop as I type this thread, but the speculation is that the source was unburnt powder downrange.

Its a heck of a loss for a local business, and they are an excellent local dealer. I do hope they get back up and running soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5zGFyZ9Yps
 
Happens more than you think. I’ve seen it happen at least 3 or 4 times in the last 15 or 20 years. (I don’t mean I was THERE when it happened, I just mean they were local ranges I would use/known to me)
 
It happened around her a few years ago. While not an expert in fire suppression systems I do wonder if a standard building sprinkler system is sufficient for these types of fires.
 
That happened a few years back here in Indianapolis at beech grive firearms. Some idiot was shooting tracers indoors. They never rebuilt the range, heard it was issues getting the insurance to pay out.
 
BarryLee said:
It happened around her a few years ago. While not an expert in fire suppression systems I do wonder if a standard building sprinkler system is sufficient for these types of fires.
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I wonder if an indoor range needs to be sprinklered.

Building and fire safety codes don't require all businesses to have sprinklers. A sprinkler system is usually required for assembly purposes, or for larger buildings. I know the range where I shoot isn't sprinklered.
 
Once rocket fuel (Rubber/Tire + oxidizer) actually ignites,
"sprinklers" had better inundate within 30-seconds.


.
 
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My local range has a steel backstop, angled so the rounds don't come back
at us. I will ask if they have any rubber in them.
 
L. Boscoe said:
My local range has a steel backstop, angled so the rounds don't come back at us. I will ask if they have any rubber in them.
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That's what my range has. The steel plate is set at 45 degrees. It defects the bullets down into a moat, several feet deep, that's filled with water.

They did have a fire in the range a few years ago, but not in the bullet trap area. A hot spark dropped into the accumulation of unburned powder that had collected a few feet in front of the firing benches and set that off. Since the fire, the range has become much more organized about how often they sweep out the area in front of the stalls, and they now wet mop rather than dry sweep.
 
The ranges I shoot at ban tracers, I haven't heard of any range fires here in NJ. Unburnt powder ? Always thought powder that didn't burn up in the barrel burned up outside it, hence those spectacular muzzle flashes that photograph so well. Rubber tires in junkyards are a fireman's bane, water doesn't work that wel on them.
 
Not all unburned powder burns in muzzle flash. When I scrounge brass from the buckets at the range, it's surprising just how much powder is left in some cases.
 
Just to be a PITA, none of the unburnt powder burns in the muzzle flash. If it burns, its not "unburnt" powder. :rolleyes:

There are always a few flakes or granules of unburnt or partially burnt powder. An indoor shooting range, where there is no weather providing an environment where this material gets washed away, or has soil to degrade into, where thousands of rounds get fired over the same small area (range floor) and absent frequent and proper cleaning, the still flammable debris builds up, and when the stars line up, gets ignited.

Its one of the known hazards of enclosed shooting spaces.
 
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