Co. spokesman is looking for answers - guy's leg is severed off

“We are deeply saddened that this happened,” Boyles said. “We’re looking for answers like everyone else.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...ltion-shrapnel-hits-them-from-1000-feet-away/
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Well, I got an answer for him: ya see, ya strapped 10 tonnes of explosive onto that building that was standing-right over there. And when the explosives exploded, as they do, the energy is transferred to what ever is near ... and zoom! It goes where ever it bloody well wants to.

Comments contained in article:

“I saw that dude’s leg and I had to walk away,” he told the Californian. “There was a lot of blood, a lot of blood.”


Kelly Patt, 21, who arrived five hours early to get a good view of the blast, said his girlfriend got sprayed with shrapnel but wasn’t badly hurt. Patt said he was far more disturbed at seeing the man with the severed leg.


“It’s a good gouge, but it’s just scratches,” Garten told the Bakersfield Californian, which first reported on the incident. “I just feel bad for the other guy. They took him away on a gurney, and I’m walking.”

Nice to see some people still can put their own predicament into perspective.

At least they cleared the building to be demolished first. They don't always even do that: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...-as-demolition-crew-knocks-down-atlanta-home/

From my experience working with our EOD guys: The safety officer required us to either be under cover (the guys actually doing the blasting) or at least 200 feet away from the blast site when we were using less than 2 lbs of C4 in a shaped charge. Some of the safety officers required an even greater distance than 200 feet for the same amount of explosive.

With the type of demolition they were doing and the amount of explosive, the 1000 feet distance (what I read in another news story) that the spectators were from the blast site wasn't nearly enough. Even under the most controlled conditions, you never know how far stuff will fly when you are using explosives. It will surprise you at times.

The poor guy who lost his leg should get one heckuva payday, but no amount of money will replace his leg.

Bottom line: This is another of those incidents that should not have happened.

While I, too, would probably place the liability on the demolition team/government; there is always that part of me that questions people who think: "Gee, I wonder how close I am allowed to get to that explosion?"

MAC702 said:

While I, too, would probably place the liability on the demolition team/government; there is always that part of me that questions people who think: "Gee, I wonder how close I am allowed to get to that explosion?"

Click to expand...

Only 99.98% of the people of course !

If there was aafety perimeter then everybody should have been safe if they stayed beyond that perimeter, because, you know, thet would not set a safety perimeter that was not safe, would they? [/stupidity]

I have seen signs on the highway that said the road was legally closed for repairs and anybody using it did so at their own risk. I'm sure the existence of that sign had protected the state and the contractor from all sorts of liability suits.

The questions are 1) did the demolotion company take reasonable and prudent steps to prevent stray peices from flying about, and 2) whose definition of reasonable and prudent are we going to go by?

It's hard to tell someone they were stupid to go to a stupid place with other stupid people to do a stupid thing when the city and the demolition contractor said staying 1,000 feet away would be safe.

stay safe.