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talljasperman's avatar

Can you put out an out of control wildfire out with explosives?

Asked by talljasperman (21916points) July 7th, 2015

Something my chemistry teacher saying in the rare times that I wasn’t listening to. What is the science behind using explosives for fire fighting? Also dumping salt on a fire . Would that help? Also what are some novel approaches to wild fire fighting?

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3 Answers

LuckyGuy's avatar

Red Adair put out oil well fires with explosives. A stoichiometric mix of acetylene or popane and oxygen will make a blast that leaves only carbon dioxide and water vapor in its wake. It deprives the fire of oxygen.

LuckyGuy's avatar

I have also seen a neat method where guided artillery shells loaded with a moderate explosive and a retardant are targeted at specific locations to put out secondary fires before crews can reach them.
Occasionally military technology can be used for something other than breaking things.

(This method is also being suggested for certain airport crash landings to douse flames before the fire and rescue trucks can arrive.)

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