Machine Gun Fire Sets Utah City Ablaze
- Posted on September 20, 2010 at 8:58am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Utah National Guardsmen participating in machine gun practice are being accused of starting a wildfire in the Salt Lake City suburb of Herriman, UT. The fire has consumed about 3,500 acres and displaced nearly 1,500 families.
In a news conference on Sunday, Utah Governor Gary Herbert indicated that the military exercise was planned and that conditions at the outset were relatively normal. However, the problems started when the wind started to pick up. According to a CNN report, wind gusts of up to 50 m.p.h are fueling the blaze.
“Literally, the whole mountainside is on fire,” Lt. Don Hutson of the Unified Police Department said at a news conference this morning. “The flames are just coming down the backyards and bumping up against many of the structures on the high part of the mountain.”
Ironically, 124 National Guardsmen have been called in to help fight the inferno.
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Eyeball
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 11:08pmMaybe the liberals are contemplating banning bullets from the military in order to maintain fire safety.
Report Post »IX-XI
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 8:22amMy brother lives in Herriman with his wife and two kids. It’s a beautiful little spot in the southwest corner of the Salt Lake Valley, about as far from Salt Lake City as you can get and still be in the valley. They have some of the best views of the Wasatch Front in the whole valley.
Periodically in Salt Lake, along the benches on both sides of the valley, there will be brush fires. It’s the nature of the place. Probably a bad idea for soldiers to be live fire training in drought conditions with that much built up fuel near a heavily populated area.
But this firing range has been here for decades, while the community of Herriman has only been a couple of ranchers until recently. Now it’s got like 25 thousand people, and the whole thing was built in like ten years. Beautiful place, but fire preparedness obviously has now come onto the radar for Herriman residents, since this is the first time this has happened to them.
Here in York County, PA, we’re in drought condition too. But still no worries about wildfires yet, apart from the BLAZE that’s about to go national in six weeks.
Report Post »Woodiedg
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 2:11amHey a good brush fire takes care of insect invasions like the locust; these are species that can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory.
Hmmm, send the National Guard for a little machine gun practise along our borders.
Report Post »Alice in Wonderland
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 1:39amLuckily, only 4 homes were burned and I think everyone is back in their houses tonight. See, Utahns
Report Post »don’t sit and whine and hold signs up asking for someone to help us. We get it done ourselves. We are a strong conservative state and we are proud of it!
bolec slodkie
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 11:46pmHey, Have any of you hear how the new “green ammo”, M855A1 is working out?
Report Post »nukegm
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 7:57pmperhaps the military could use washington dc as a backstop for the machine gun training? and keep the tracers too! LOL!
Report Post »forthepeople
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 3:00pmJust waiting for the gun to be blamed !
Report Post »TruthLover
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 1:48pmDoesn‘t seem like a very smart time of year to be ’shooting the breeze.’ I hope nobody gets hurt.
Report Post »seayalater73
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 1:19pmIt doesn’t matter what kind of ammo you use, machine gun training puts ALOT of rounds down range and there is always a chance of a fire even on the best facilities. Thats why you are supposed to detail your own fire crew to go down and put them out before it gets out of control. I can tell you that much of these ranges are being ran in too much haste without proper planning and execution. There is an incredible amount of pressure put on the Range Officer and NCOIC to get the training done quickly rather than well. Other than that I can assure you that they were using a certified and designated surface danger zone. They were not shooting at or near housing developements (I have shot there and many other places besides.) Just a fluke it cuaght and carried so far.
Please, some left wing troll say something stupid here. Tell an old Mike Golf he is wrong…
Report Post »InformedbyBlaze
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 12:38amYou are right. No tracer rounds were fired. The mistake that was made was that it was a “Red Flag” warning day and this risk information was not checked as required. For years, Gen. Brian Tarbet, commander of the Utah National Guard, has worried about this happening and done everything in his power to train his men to avoid this. Several things contributed; Urban encroachment on the only NG traing facility in Utah, unusual weather, failure by the officer in charge, and then assumptions that the earlier fire had been put out. Three homes were lost and that is a tremendous tragedy for those people.
General Tarbet has taken full responsability. He is probably the finest leader the Utah National Guard has ever had. This training has to go on – Utah NG troops are still being sent out. If you look at some of the photos you can see what a miracle this was that only 3 houses were lost and no lives. Houses have scorched areas all the way up to their front porches and were saved. Over 150 UNG fought this fire and saved the houses along side the Unified Fire Authority. Pictures and info on the local new at: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=12497453
These houses are being built in an area that has been NG training ground for 100 years. Then the homeowners complain when the hear the guns and their windows shake. Of course no one deserves to have their house burned down, though I wouldn‘t build or buy near a dairy if I didn’t want to smell cows.
Report Post »no one in particular
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:50pmSame thing happened to Storm King Mountain by West Point right before Hurricane Floyd hit the area in Sept. of ‘99. Washed the whole mountain into the roads, houses and basements of Town of Cornwall you’d swear it was Woodstock all over again. Uh-oh that was 9/99. Turn that upside down and its dum-de-dum THE DEVIL! THE BLAZE BASELESSLY REPORTS U.S.A. GUNS & AMMO ARE THE DEVIL’S HANDWORK/DEMANDS C. O”DONNELL FOR CONFESSION AND REPARATION MONEY.
Report Post »mac410
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:44pmFreelancer, Thought you were moving on to some other web site. You didn’t like it here. What gives?
Report Post »NoStar
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:34pmI thought this was going to be about old school Mormons taking up arms and declaring, “You can take my multiple wives when you pry my cold dead fingers off of them.”
Report Post »wingedwolf
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:45pmLOL you ain’t right, NOSTAR.
Report Post »missmarie
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 10:56amWhat a terrible accident. The article indicates people were displaced, but thankfully, it doesn’t report any injuries occurred. I will pray for the military and civilian citizens in this community.
Report Post »twofoot_trucker
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 10:45amAccidents happen in military training. Unintended side-effect of trying to maintain unit readiness.
Though sometimes it’s not always an accident. Long story short; In the early 90s I was at Camp Pendleton. We were supposed to be in the field around a week, for some reason came back in after about three days. We load down the bed of a cut-vee (think Chevy Silvarado wiit cammo and no ammenities) with ammo, and I mean LOADED. I got tasked with driving the cut-vee back with the platoon sgt riding shotgun. Ammo, flares, arty simulators, ammo for the 203s, a few white phosphorus grenades. We ran into the base fire dept guys on the way back who getting ready to do a controlled burn. These guys, civilians, wanted to play with some cool toys. We didn’t want to have to count all that ammo back in when we returned. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. We let the fire dept burn through thousands of dollars of ammo, flares, etc. It was a good day.
Report Post »MarkBL
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 10:41amThis blaze has already destroyed at least 4 homes. Camp Williams claims they weren’t using tracer rounds.
Report Post »GunDoctor
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:58pmI’m not sure if I believe that. It would have only taken one tracer round that didn’t get removed from a belt to start this. Besides last penetrating rounds I used were tungsten cored. That shouldn’t make a spark.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 10:16amI wish I could say that in military history this has never happened, but that would be a lie. This isn’t all that uncommon.
Report Post »mrdbcooper
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 10:12amAnother reason for gun control!!!!!!!…….not
Report Post »VegasGuy
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:25pmDon’t dismiss gun control as their ultimate agenda. Over the past few years the number of fires attributed to guns has ticked up remarkably. The Forest Service (a bunch of eco-leftists) has been the source for many of these stories even when they only have the flimsiest of evidence, e.g. “hunters were observed in the general area,“ or ”a group of men who were target practicing are suspected of starting the fire when a round struck a rock.”
Compare that to fires before 2000. I cannot recall ANY fires being attributed to guns.
Report Post »mrdbcooper
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 1:07pmVegasguy,
Report Post »Just when I calmed down following today’s gloom and doom, you had to give me another reason to b*tch.:)
SanjiHimura
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 1:22pmVegasguy is absolutely right. Remember kids, it is not about the guns, it is about control!
Report Post »HOPE FLOATS
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 9:58amWow…what a strange accident. I hope they are able to get the fire under control.
Report Post »mtnclimberjim
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 9:57amThis is a good thing. The fire clears all that nasty brush away. This is our gubberment at work.
Report Post »Tatum
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 9:49amI was Harry Reid. HE’S A MORON.
Report Post »norcalart
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 9:46amWho was in charge ? Sorry for the families.
Report Post »Tatum
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 9:53amWow, You’re right. I didn’t even think of the families. This should have never happened. I’ve had to leave home before and it was no fun at all. I grab my money and pictures which are always ready. You need more and the picture are 115 years old.
Report Post »wingedwolf
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:43pmI’m sure George Bush can be blamed. LOL sorry for the families, too.
Report Post »Joseph
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 9:33amSo why do you want to use armor peircing rounds “Steel Core” during fire season???
Report Post »KEA
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 9:50amThat is the round they should have used instead of tracer rounds.
Report Post »Joseph
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 10:22amThey both start fires…
Report Post »Tipdog
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:35pmHonestly, they should be using paintballs. But they ran out of 7.62 variants.
Report Post »Buck Bagaw
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 6:31pm“they both start fires”?? Having fired thousands of rounds in both the military and in civilian competition, I have never seen anything but a tracer start a fire. But that’s just me. I’m sure a munitions expert like yourself could supply us with verifiable examples of non tracer ammo causing fires. We are waiting.
Report Post »Buck Bagaw
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 9:12amYou pull the tracer rounds in dry conditions or this is what happens. My unit lit up the woods on Fort Indiantown Gap exactly like this back in the day.
Report Post »The_Truth
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 9:28amBeat me to it and you are absolutely correct.
Report Post »Freelancer
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 10:45amI think it’s time to disband the military…. They are not very eco-friendly and obviously need to be abolished to protect our environment.
wingedwolf
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 12:41pmFreelancer.are you serious or is this more humor that I’m not getting?
Report Post »Quilly Mammoth
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 1:04pmBuck Bagaw:
Report Post »Exactly what I was saying and from experience at exactly the same place! Course the best range fire was from a misfire of the M202A1…but that’s another story.
plunderpower
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 3:02pmThis is clearly an odd circumstance but the Left is going to investigate and blame until someone joins all the other political prisoners in Ft. Leavenworth since Obama took office. Garbrielle Giffords D-AZ wants troops to use clubbing and stabbing because it’s better for the environment. She also told Petreaus to file environmental impact statements on all ops. These crazies have incarcerated soldiers for killing Taliban. We need to free these soldiers and tell this bunch to get a brain.
Report Post »tjdavid21444
Posted on September 20, 2010 at 3:40pmWingedwolf, this is what is known as sarcasm. Freelancer, I believe, is imitating what the enviro-wackos on the left would say about this story. At least, that was the way I took it.
Report Post »danimal
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 9:23am:) Freelancer: No need to disband the military… Issue squirt guns to the troops. Problem solved. And while they’re out there marching around and stuff, have them plant trees and pick up litter.
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