Although it can happen anytime, summertime and nice weather brings the prime time for garage sales, auctions, and antiquing, both on the part of the buyer and the seller. Those on the hunt for antiques and things that catch their eye sometimes however get more than they bargained for with their purchase.
An alert homeowner on Green Valley Road, within the Fredericktown Community Fire District brought crews responding to a dangerous situation at their home on Saturday afternoon. The homeowner contacted the Knox County Sheriff’s Office after finding that an antique bottle his wife purchased at a sale unknowingly contained an explosive chemical. Research on the labeling of the bottled determined it contained Picric Acid, and with the age and form it was something very unstable. In the form the acid was found in, it was both shock sensitive and sensitive to metal. The explosive power we were informed was similar to nitroglycerin.
The FCFD had two chiefs along with an engine respond to the scene to be on standby during the course of the operation. The Bomb Squad from the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office responded to the incident with their team and were able to safely dispose of the bottle and contents utilizing one pound of C4.
Incidents like this are nothing new within our community, over the course of the last several years the FCFD has responded to incidents with unstable materials requiring the assistance of bomb squad units from around Central Ohio. As people are cleaning out old barns, garages, and basements are often times when old chemicals and potentially dangerous items are found.
A quick search of the Internet and fire service publications rendered numerous results for picric acid incidents from around the United States requiring assistance from bomb squads and EOD teams. In addition to the form we found it in on Saturday, a more common response has been to decades old first aid kits containing “picric acid gauze pads.”
Although its primary use is as an explosive, over the years picric acid has found other uses in medicine as an antiseptic, burn treatments, and other uses, but early on was also used as a dye.
If you find some type of hazardous, dangerous, explosive, or unknown material such as the picric acid that we dealt with in our community over the weekend we would recommend the following:
1. Call 911 and provide them with as much information as possible to what you have found. Name of material, description, and where it is located.
2. Stay away from and keep others from the area surrounding the material or device in question.
3. Leave the material where it is. Do not attempt to move it, transfer it to another location, or change the container it is in, doing so may cause a reaction. Trained professionals will respond to where the material is and determine the safest manner to dispose of the situation.
4. Do not simply pour it down the drain, not only are you putting that into the sewer system, but potentially the material is reactive to water or metal in the pipes.
5. Doing anything other than leaving this situation to the trained professionals is extremely dangerous.
