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Entire Louisiana Town Evacuated After Authorities Discover 6 Million Pounds of Improperly Stored Explosives

Dec. 3, 2012 12:15pm Erica Ritz

Louisiana Town Evacuates After 6 Million Pounds of Explosives Found at Camp Minden

This photo, released by Louisiana State Police, shows piles of explosive powder stored at the Camp Minden industrial site that officials say were improperly housed by a company. (Photo: AP)

(TheBlaze/AP) — A town in northwest Louisiana has been turned on its head after authorities discovered a staggering 6 million pounds of improperly stored explosives that, according to the Associated Press, is sometimes used in howitzers and other artillery.

Boxes and small barrels of the M6 artillery propellant were found both outdoors and crammed into unauthorized buildings leased by Explo Systems Inc. at Camp Minden, a former Louisiana Army Ammunitions Plant, state police superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said Sunday.

About 800 of the residents of nearby Doyline voluntarily left on Friday, and police have continued to evacuate residents as they contain the situation.

The company’s “careless and reckless disregard made it unsafe for their own employees, for schoolchildren in Doyline, for the town of Doyline,” Edmonson scolded.

Authorities had initially estimated the total at 1 million pounds after an investigator looking into an Oct. 15 explosion at Explo Systems saw cardboard boxes on long rows of pallets behind a building. But they soon found more stacked in sheds and warehouses when crews returned Saturday to begin moving the boxes into bunkers about two miles away.

According to its website, Explo Systems is a “7-year-old, veteran-owned small business” that has been “demilitarizing/recovering explosives/propellant for over 15 years.” It claims to be compliant with DOD safety regulations and uses only “proven, environmentally safe” technology.

Law enforcement personnel stand at a roadblock along Hwy 163 just south of Doyline, La., Saturday Dec. 1, 2012. Authorities have begun moving 1 million pounds of improperly stored explosive powder to storage bunkers at the Camp Minden industrial site. (Photo: AP)

“It wasn’t in their storage magazines. They had it hidden on the property, away from the storage magazines where we would expect to find it,” Cain said.

Edmonson added: “It was stuffed in corners. It was stacked all over.”

Capt. Doug Cain, a state police spokesman, identified the product as M6 propellant. The pellets are largely compressed nitrocellulose, also known as guncotton.

Edmonson said that in two days, crews have moved just under a million pounds from the tightest-packed buildings into approved containers and onto 27 tractor-trailers to move to storage bunkers. Another 250,000 pounds has been moved a safe distance from the bulk of the material.

It won’t all have to be moved into bunkers to let people return home – the evacuation could be lifted once the propellant is divided into amounts that won’t threaten the town if some ignites, with each area a safe distance from the others.

Company officials could not be reached Sunday. The owners are reportedly returning Monday from a business trip to South Korea, but the manager has been working with state police from the start, Edmonson said.

But Doyline does have one other claim to fame, the Associated Press adds. Apparently it was used to film some scenes for the HBO vampire series “True Blood.”

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Comments (27)

azcowboy1
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 3:59pm
If I asked for some would the men in black be in my yard? Nevermind lol

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blackyb
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:59pm
Social Security might want it. They seem to collect ammo for ????

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Old Ogre
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:41pm
Lets send it to Israel so Bibi can clean up Pakistan ;-)

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Old Ogre
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:36pm
Yea that would blow your mind now wouldn’t it!

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jackact
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:23pm
The militia lies in wait.
Everywhere.

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The-Monk
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:20pm
Can those M6 propellants be set off by a lightning strike?

Anyone here know?

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Sicialian Eyeball
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:06pm
A “Veteran” owned business………… Do you think the Feds might be a little paranoid about the military and all those who have served?

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ArmedAndReallyPissed
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:04pm
Let Holder take control of all of it. I’m sure he can find a place to store it securely.

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- Old Ogre
  Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:34pm
  Yup, he will give it to Mexico :-)
  
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ronin_6
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:00pm
After 911 we got sent to Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon to secure the chemical weapons that were stored there.
We found 50 gallons drums of VX and Mustard gas stored out doors on rotting pallets behind unlocked rusted out chainlink fences. They were under old rotten canvas tarps. Have no idea how long they had been there but some of them were dated from the 1940′s. Rusted, sitting askew on rotted out pallets baking in that high desert sun. It was a disaster waiting to happen. On top of that the depot had been open to anyone that wanted to wander on. Many people used the roads as shortcuts to avoid traffic in downtown Umatilla. There is a large antelope herd there and people used to come on to hunt them whenever they wanted.
The only word to describe this scenario was nightmare.
I can’t imagine the horror that could have been done had our enemies known just how easy it was to drive on, load up a barrel or 2 or 10 of mustard agent and drive away. Nobody would have known until it was way too late.

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ArmedAndReallyPissed
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:57pm
Quick. Get this stuff all loaded on the trucks and get it to Washington. We need to secure all this now. Three days later……..Match anyone ?

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country_hick
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:55pm
But the BATFE will go after small firearms dealers in a second.

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- mikem1969
  Posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:10pm
  Ah good old gevernment management for ya. They love to destroy the little guy, but always help out their cronies.
  
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cloudsofwar
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:55pm
bubba’s at work doing it the bubba way.

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AmericaMustBeFree
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:50pm
Apparently this business owner should never have been permitted to be a business owner! I cannot believe how ignorant or asinine he or they were! Shut em down!

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forthepeople
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:42pm
Our tax money at work …… wasted ?

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goahead.makemyday
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:35pm
Where’s OSHA on this? Wasn’t OSHA created to ensure “employee safety”? Oh wait it isn’t a small business that can’t afford for the owner and his son to completely follow OSHA guidelines so there wasn’t a reason to be concerned. People forget or don’t know about OSHA well OSHA is to small businesses as the EPA is to oil and mining companies.

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rp454
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:32pm
Nitrocellulose is used in all modern single and double based smokeless gunpowder and is very stable. It will not explode unless compressed. It will merely burn with a bright orange flame. That being said, those pallets are packed so tightly together that if they did catch fire the pressure generated from the exterior pallets might cause some interesting reactions in the center ones.

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mrs.janet.murgatroid
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:29pm
These environmentalist are out of control. Too many federal regulations. It’s his business and he should be able to store his explosives any damn way he pleases. This is what is killing small businesses, stupid regulations.

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- drphil69
  Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:41pm
  Really? I love guns and ammo, shooting of all kinds, but this is INSANE. Sorry, Mrs.Janet – but putting hundreds or maybe even thousands at risk due to stupidity IS something the govt should have a say in.
  
  Now, when the morons in DC, specifically the EPA, put in regs that cost BILLIONS, but do nothing for safety, is insane.
  
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- SovereignSoul
  Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:44pm
  Exactly! And, they should be expanding their business to include storage of things like barrels of mercury and unused mustard gas. Free Market Capitalism. It’s the only way.
  
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- goahead.makemyday
  Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:47pm
  To a majority I agree how ever 6 million pounds of this stuff detonating almost(impossible for truly) simultaneously would cause massive damage to anything within about 10-15 miles. When something a business does can have a impact(pun not intended) this big there is a definite need to have it stopped. The powder plant in St. Marks has a quarter mile clear zone around it that is required even though all the powder is stored in bunkers and a very limited supply is outside of it at one time. I believe spread between all bunkers MIGHT be around 3 mill pounds. This was 6 Mill pounds outside of all bunkers design to contain such explosions one of the pellets are used to fire modern artillery imagine the damage from all 6 mill pounds of it. BTW to help you understand 6 mill pounds is equal to 3000 TONS(non metric) or 2727.272727……. metric tons.
  
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grimmster
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:22pm
Six million pounds, thats going to leave one hell of a crater……..
My guess is, this is more common, than one would think………

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- rp454
  Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:35pm
  You are confusing smokeless gunpowder (a propellant) with something like TNT or HMX (a high energy explosive). There will be a LOT of fire, but unless the pressure gets up to around 10,000 psi, that is all there will be.
  
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- DZ-015
  Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:44pm
  Three megatons; if it all went at once it would be one of the largest non nuclear explosions ever.
  
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- DZ-015
  Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:59pm
  My Bad , thats three kilotons.
  
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biohazard23
Posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:20pm
Oops??

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