Putting out a car fire in Bow, New Hampshire got a lot more complicated than expected for emergency responders last Saturday when the heat from the blaze caused several hundred rounds of ammunition in the car to begin exploding. Thankfully, no one was killed by the crash that caused the fire in the first place or by the exploding ammunition, NECN reports.
Police initially received a report of an erratic driver headed north on Interstate 93 at about 3:00 p.m. At some point, the driver reportedly hit the jersey barrier that separates the left lane from oncoming traffic. The car then bounced back to the right, hitting another car and driving into the woods where it struck multiple trees and ultimately caught on fire.
The three occupants, including the driver, were able to get out of the car before it became engulfed in flames. One of the occupants was hospitalized with serious injuries but is expected to survive. No one in the car the driver hit was injured.
The fire caused emergency crews to shut down I-93’s northbound lanes, but when the ammunition started exploding, it forced them to shut down the southbound lanes, as well. Police arrested one of the occupants who they say had several outstanding warrants, and they may file more charges after concluding their investigation.
While a burning car filled with exploding ammunition is one of the most American things imaginable, the scene was likely a lot less like the OK Corral than you might be imagining. Anything that explodes can be dangerous, but as American Hunter reports, without the barrel of a gun to contain the energy of the ignited gunpowder, exploding ammunition doesn’t generally send shrapnel more than a few feet. Still, if there had been a loaded gun inside the burning car, that could have easily been another story.