Gilbert Arizona Reloading Accident Torches House

By Dean Weingarten

A house fire in Gilbert, Arizona appears to be a rare case of an unfortunate reloading accident. The reloader suffered burns to his face and upper body. That’s likely why the fire got out of hand. It wouldn’t have taken much to get the three vehicles out of the garage. Their loss was a substantial percentage of the total loss of the house, which looks to be in the $200,000 range. I hope that smoking was not involved . . .

Smoking while reloading is, as you’d expect, incredibly dangerous. Fighting fires where ammunition is involved isn’t. From 12news.com

“As the ammo was kicking off, one actually hit me right in the face mask,” Gilbert firefighter Mase Mattingly said. “It bounced up and landed right in my hand.”

Fire officials said the ammunition did not have enough velocity to penetrate their protective gear.

Even so, the fire truck Mattingly rode in to the fire had several bullet strikes in the paint.