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BURLEY • A woman injured Saturday in an explosion at a Burley home continues to recover in a Utah hospital.
Hospital staff at the University of Utah’s Burn and Trauma Center said Monday that Amy Wood remained in “good” condition.
Wife of state Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, she was burned in the explosion that occurred while the couple ate dinner at their home.
The explosion from a basement room converted into a gun safe lifted up the patio slab at the back of the home, which doubled as the roof of the safe room, and collapsed the patio roof.
Amy Wood was on the patio when the explosion occurred.
Investigators are still reviewing the incident, and it’s not clear if the explosion stemmed from something in the safe room. Ivan Hibbert, deputy state fire marshal, told the Times-News Sunday that reports on the explosion may not be available for a couple of weeks.
A room of stored ammunition and reloading supplies can hold enough explosive force to cause the damage seen in Burley, a local firearms expert said.
Safe rooms are often built very heavily, said Dan Hadley, reloading expert and employee at Red’s Trading Post in Twin Falls. If a spark occurs, he said, that ignites the stored gunpowder and the room can “become like a cartridge case with the pressure finding release at the weakest spot, which would be the roof.”
When gunpowder ignites, he said, it creates an expanding gas.
In rooms with a lot of stored ammunition and reloading supplies “it could easily blow a roof off,” he said.
Sparks or heat can come from several different sources. Hadley said if gun cleaning and oiling supplies are kept in a room in a closed container, it can lead to the possibility of spontaneous combustion.
“Something like that is more likely to happen in an auto repair shop where there are more rags,” he said.
He said although cleaning and oiling supplies are volatile, “they are safe if the directions are followed.” It’s always best to store them in a location separate from reloading supplies and ammunition, he advised.
Another source of ignition is some type of electrical short, Hadley said.
Safe rooms often have a dehumidifier, which has the potential of shorting out. Sparks can also be generated from static electricity in carpeting or from a light bulb exploding.
Gun safe owners generally don’t have carpet in such rooms and turn the lights out when they leave, Hadley said.
