How much damage can a grenade cause?

[flyerdan]

Many years ago, my dad had a friend that was involved in some rather, dubious ops in SE Asia. He knew a guy that was trying to flog a lot of grenade fuses, the only problem was none of them were marked so you wouldn't know if it was an instant booby-trap type, or a timed one for throwing until it went off. Not much practical use for those.

 

[Jstpssng]

Just a reason to bring out the drama squad and make some news.

This was my thought when I posted. However, the two comments below make a lot of sense.

Well, the police can’t be sure if there isn’t other explosives or unlocated booby traps which could cause widespread destruction. If some idiot has a grenade, who knows what else he has or intends. Better safe than sorry.

The incident commander will always be conservative and play it safe. It's better to evacuate too many people than not enough. And, he or she doesn't know wat else may be there.

 

[4570Man]

I would think a grenade in a basement would be close to zero danger to the surrounding houses. But obviously they’re going to play it safe.

 

[/pine]

Remember the old adage..."close only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades"...!

 

[WM75Guy]

The incident commander will always be conservative and play it safe. It's better to evacuate too many people than not enough. And, he or she doesn't know wat else may be there.

Been there, done that, have many FD t-shirts. The last thing you want to do is have to write a memo like this:

Dear Chief,

Many things have happened since we last spoke. Not the least of which is I didn't evacuate a wide enough area when an explosive device was found. It went off and things were bad.

Sincerely,

Captain, soon to be Firefighter

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

This was my thought when I posted. However, the two comments below make a lot of sense.

Drama queens.

 

[turbo36]

Drama queens.

Well you surely are a tough guy aren’t you? What if it was a real grenade and it went off and a piece of scrapple went through the window and killed a child that had gathered because of all the fire engines and police cars? Would you just write it off as drama?

 

[2LaneCruzer]

If he pulled the pin and just held it, nothing would happen. You have to let go of the handle before it will go off....we pulled the pin on dad's pineapple a lot....when he wasn't home.

Can't argue with that, but he obviously pulled the pin and let go of the handle. His whole body was fricasseed, and they found the pin and his finger somewhere in the blast area. All I can say is the guy was some kind of a megga nurd if he didn't mentally assimilate the connection between an orphan grenade, the possibility of it being live, considering the location, and the result if he pulled the pin and it exploded.

 

[Jchonline]

Watched an episode of "Homicide Hunter" where some guy moved into a house in Colo. Springs, and found a couple of grenades in the garage. For some reason, the guy pulled the pin on one, and just held it. They found the pin, with his finger still in it. Seems as the previous occupant had been in the service, and for some reason brought home a couple live grenades and left them in the garage.

I have a dummy pineapple grenade, and I don't even think about pulling the pin.

Colorado Springs is a huge military town...not surprised at all.

 

[dmccarty]

My father in law was in Special Forces. It was not until we were at his funeral did we know he was the first group of soldiers who formed the 1st Special Forces Group. He never said a word about that, only that he was in Special Forces. He was an armorer, knew about things that go boom, and other stuff. He would talk about firearms stuff to the cows game home but never really talk about what he knew about the stuff that goes boom.

He did grow up around explosives though. He knew the family that owned the land where Fort Fisher, NC is located. It is now a state park. In his youth, he had written permission to dig for artifacts on the site and found live shells, rusted fire arms, bayonets, and at least one skeleton of a Yankee soldier who was killed in the battle. I can't remember his name, but my father in law knew the soldiers name, since it was engraved in the soldier's belt buckle.

He also worked for a state agency that uses, or contracts to use, explosives. At the end of one job, a company had some left over dynamite, knew my father in law's background, and asked if he wanted it. He said yes and he got a couple of crates of stuff that goes boom.

One of my father in laws friends had been Special Forces. The friend did not seem to have steady work but had a nice house and always had a new car but from time to time, he would disappear for a few week or months....

Anywho, my father law mentioned to his friend that he had some dynamite, every time I type that word I channel Jimmie Walker, and the next thing he knew, he had a call from Fort Bragg telling him that some EOD soldiers would be at his house to remove the dynamite for him.

After my father in law died, family members were cleaning out the house so it could be sold. In the attic they found a box...

In the box was a stick of dynamite, a grenade and an anti tank mine....

The family called 911 and had the bomb squad come out and remove that stuff from the attic. I knew my father in law would not keep live explosives over his head and he did not. They were just training aides he had kept but better to be safe than sorry.

I sure miss my father in law.....

Later,
Dan