[AKcrab]

Talkeetna doctor's trip to store saves him from explosion: Mat-Su | adn.com

Talkeetna's only physician came within about 20 minutes of losing his life early Tuesday morning when a faulty stove pipe and 47 pounds of gunpowder in his log cabin clinic caused an explosion that blew out the back door and incinerated most of the building.
...
Adding fuel to the fire was Yates' stockpile of 15,000 rounds of ammunition from his handloader for hunting, and propane tanks.

47 pounds of gunpowder? 15,000 round of ammunition? IN YOUR CLINIC?!

I own guns. I own ammunition. But geeeez.

[brassplayersrock²]

The local shooting range holds gun clinics all the time.

[iMOTOR]

What an idiot. Everyone knows you’re supposed to store ammo in a ammo can.

[besson3c]

Hey AKcrab, do you think that Levi Johnston will win the election to become mayor of Wasilla? I notice that your location says that you are from Wasilla, hence my question...

[AKcrab]

I'm not sure that Levi has a valid residence inside Wasilla city limits.

Even if he is eligible, I don't give him a chance in hell of winning. Wasilla is full of conservative rednecks, but not all of them are completely stupid.

[besson3c]

Do you like living in Wasilla?

[AKcrab]

Not much. It's changed a lot in the last decade.

[Dork.]

I wonder if he was one of the folks stockpiling ammo because he thought Obama was going to ban ammo sales....

[ghporter]

The report sort of makes it sound like the doc didn't have a clue about fire safety...Packages of powder are CLEARLY marked that they are highly flammable. You don't keep anything like that near a stove because that's stupid. I don't think I'd trust a physician that could not heed such simple, plainly stated warnings.

Of course the story doesn't really indicate that the powder was stored right next to the stove. Maybe the stove caused a large fire that wound up getting to the powder and ammunition. Since his propane tanks got involved too, it sounds like there's a lot more to the story, and it's not really that the doctor had all of his flammable materials right next to some pot bellied stove...

15,000 rounds of ammunition isn't a lot if you shoot competitively, or actually practice regularly. Or if you don't get out much for 8 months out of the year because of the weather and you spend your time handloading.

[iLikebeer]

It would make sense if he gets resupplied by plane. Shipping would be the most expensive part. Maybe there was room on the flight for 50 pounds and he figured he might as well buy enough to last several years. Maybe shippimg 50 pounds would cost as much as 10. Either way, he wouldn't have to worry about the logistics again for a long time as gunpowder doesn't go bad.

[ghporter]

There is a HAZMAT fee associated with shipping flammables like smokeless powder, so one would try to get as much as practical with each shipment. The powder was probably trucked in because it's against DOT regs to ship flammables like smokeless powder by air.

And please, it was almost certainly "smokeless powder," not "gunpowder" (AKA "black powder") Reporters usually don't have a clue about real details, let alone technical details.

[Shaddim]

Only 15,000 rounds of ammo? Amateurs.

[AKcrab]

He doesn't get resupplied by airplane. He's about 50 miles north of me, right on the road system. Talkeetna is the "gateway to McKinley", it's where the climbers go to fly in to base camp to attack the mountain.

I would not have even mentioned this story, except for the fact that he had all this crap IN his clinic. I understand he probably has a "clinic in the front/house in the rear" type thing, but if you're going to run a business that brings in the public, I think you have a responsibility to make sure it's safe, especially if you're a doctor.

His nurse was in our shop last week; it looks like he might go Mac after this disaster.

[besson3c]

I do like Baked Alaska. Is Baked Alaska easy to find in Wasilla, AKcrab?