ANAHEIM : House Fire Sets Off Stored Ammunition

A fire that engulfed a home Friday set off an unknown amount of ammunition that was stored somewhere in the house, firefighters said.

The ammunition began going off shortly after firefighters arrived at the home of Tom and Maxine Long in the 2400 block of East Clifpark Way, Fire Division Chief Rudy Weyland said. By then, the entire house was ablaze, so pinpointing where the ammunition was stored was impossible.

Firefighters also were hampered by a lack of information about the type of ammunition and how much of it was kept in the house. Tom Long is a gun collector, fire officials said, but he is in the hospital for an unrelated matter and Maxine Long “didn’t know how much or what kind” of ammunition was in the house or where it was stored, Weyland said.

The presence of live ammunition forced firefighters to move cautiously.

“You have to wait until one area cools down before going in,” Weyland said. “You only go tentatively into areas that you feel sure of.”

Police officers at the scene warned residents and onlookers of the danger from flying bullets.

Although one neighbor reported finding a brass bullet casing several houses down the street from the fire, there were no injuries or damage reported from the ammunition.

Scott Henderson, who saw the flames from a nearby street and drove over to check on a friend’s house, said he heard what sounded like hundreds of firecrackers shortly after he pulled up to the house.

“It was just a minute or so after I got here when I heard about 100 rounds go off,” Henderson said.

Henderson had just grabbed a hose to water down the roof of the house closest to the fiery garage when the explosions began.

“I jumped around the corner,” Henderson said. “You could hear the bullets ricochet off the walls” inside the house.

The fire began in the garage, but the cause is not yet known.