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Fires
By Harry Hampton
"- , ..
11 Mile Hili Road . NewtoVln, CT 06470-2359
tions as fast as their triggers can be pulled?
T
HE SPORTSMEN AND HUNTERS
OF North America shoot billions of The answer is an emphatic NO!
cartridges and shotshells with their Ammunition fired in the open, not
firearms annually. To enjoy hunting, marks- enclosed in a gun's chamber, discharges with
manship competition, trap and skeet shoot- such inefficiency that the projectile will not
ing, and other recreational activities involv- even penetrate an ordinary fiberboard ship-
ing lawful 'use of rifles, shotguns, and hand- ping container panel at very close range. When
guns, the sportsman-shooter must be able to not strongly and tightly confined, smokeless
purchase ammunition of the particular type propellant powders burn relatively slowly and
needed for his gun and the sport tha t he is do not explode as we know they do when fired
pursuing. in a gun. Pressure within a cartridge case must
To supply his requirements for ammuni- build up to several thousand pounds pel'
tion, a sizable distribution system is neces- squme inch to cause tlle carh'idge to discharge
sary to provide transportation, warehouse as it does in a gun. Unless it is tightly con-
storage, and retail stocking of ammunition. fined, as in a gun chamber, no ammunition
Currently there are more than 450 different shell case will withstand the growing pressure
ammunition items that the shooter can buy, of gases generated by burning propellant pow-
depending on his needs and preferences. TIlis der WitllOut bursting before the bullet 01' shot
diversity obliges the channels of trade to is expelled with violence or velocity.
carry a relatively large supply of ammunition Newspaper accounts of fires in hardware
to satisfy their customers' needs. and sporting goods stores often tell of
Is there a fire hazard posed by these la rge "whizzing" bullets or ammunition flying
supplies of sporting ammunition in warehous- from the store windows, spraying the area
es .and retail stores? What, if any, danger do with a devastating barrage. Yet miraculously,
these stocks of ammunition pose to the public no one is ever seriously wounded or killed by
and to fire-fighting personnel in the event of a tlle spray of bullets and shot. The fact is that
fire in these establishments? Should munici- bullets and shot are not projected at velocities
pal fire prevention ordinances limit quantities higher than you could throw them by hand.
of ammunition that may be stored in a single The whizzing sounds that are reported are,
stmcture in the interest of public safety? for the most part, primer cups being popped
Experience and tests over the last half- from shells. Because they are of relatively low
century clearly demonstrate that sporting mass; they have very little energy, short
arms ammunition stocks do not constitute a range, and practically no penetrating power.
fire hazard of any great significance. In 1974, the City of Chicago contemplated
Cartridges are considerably less combustible a fire protection ordinance to limit severely the
than many retail items, including dry goods, stores of sporting 8Inmunition pennitted in
wooden articles, oil and alkyd-base paints commercial establishments. Local wholesale
and their thinners, and aerosol preparations. 8Ild retail outlets challenged tlle proposal, and
TIle ignition point of ammunition is much tlle Court asked tlle Fire Prevention Bureau to
higher than that of these items and most detelmine what degree of haz8I'd is involved in
types of ammunition will not even maintain a shuctural fire involving ammunition. The
combustion if ignited. To burn them requires Sporting Arms and AnmlUnition
help from adjacent combustibles. Mmufacturers' Institute (SAAMI) volunteered
But what if the structure containing to help tllC Chicago Fire Prevention Bureau
ammunition burns and the ammunition sup- obtain factual data to present to tlle Court.
plies burn along with it? Are the effects of SAAMI technical experts met witll Chicago
such a fire similar to the effects of hundreds Fire Prevention Bureau engineers and a test
of shotguns and rifles discharged in all direc- pl'Ogr8In was developed. A location for the