Denver Fire Removes Hundreds Of Pounds
Of Propane From Homeless Encampments,
Worries About Large-Scale Disaster

Hell, I've had 4 20's on my patio for 20 years and never a problem. What are these idiots doing wrong ?

With all these well-intentioned liberals looking out for them, what could go wrong? /s

#1, there are manydrunks and drug addicts, and many mentally unstable. Lots of ways to get a leak of propane and let a tent full of a flammable mix develop, and then find a spark. And drug addicts mix up meth which uses ether, another highly explosive solvent, in the process. A friend was a federal prosecutor who worked mostly meth cases for 5 years and he said that the number of old trailers in rural areas which 'suddenly exploded' because some meth freak was making the stuff was huge. They need to heat up certain portions of the process, so that might be the reason for the propane, but also maybe a more benign need, for cooking, may be lanterns.

Gosh! Some of these useful citizens could get injured, or worse, in this scenario.

Didn't Justice Roberts determine that a right to explosions is guaranteed by the Constitution? I seem to recall that he did.

The article doesn't explain why the propane bottles were removed. Were they stolen or being used for illegal purposes? The police shouldn't be able just to take someone's possessions for no reason.

I've seen this a hundred times in the corporate world. First, define the goal. (get rid of the homeless). 2nd, find a viable excuse and means to do that. (Take their propane because its dangerous). Its not unlike firing John Q Troublemaker. Look for some reason to fire him that ignores the 800 lb gorilla, then defend it with everything you have. A little integrity would go a very long way, but that seems impossible anymore.

Well I guess these people have no need for the propane now, the improved safety of having it removed will give them such a warm fuzzy feeling inside that they never feel cold or want warm food again.

I see a "off the grid" grilling show featuring the derelict of the week. A ratings buster to be sure.

FTA: "A 20 pound tank of the highly flammable gas is the equivalent of 100 sticks of dynamite." Explosive equivalence is a tricky thing. In most of the ways explosives are characterized, measures of energy release, the quote from the article is absolutely false. Brisance is a measure of the ability of an explosive to do work, like moving tons of rock for mining or shattering a large boulder. Explosive equivalence is typically measured in relation to TNT, as TNT has a tremendous "moving" power. An exploding propane tank is certainly dangerous but most of its energy release is incendiary, released as heat and light. Having a 20 pound propane tank explode in the middle of a five acre field will make quite a bang and metal fragmentation from the tank can kill; however, it doesn't come close to the blast pressure of 100 sticks of dynamite, which would make a very large hole vs creating a brilliant flash . Neither the propane nor the dynamite is safe under the control of the mentally ill, left by government fiat to endanger communities and entire cities. That is the truly "explosive" problem, not propane per se.

Its not the tanks, its who is in possession of the tanks. If near any of these drug induced sub humans who think they are living on another planet, yes bad things can happen.

Dude, pass me a hot dog and a joint, wouldja?

No big deal, a mental misfit playing with matches and Propane at the same time. What could Possibly go WORNG?

Excellent point #10. The brisance of most fuel-air explosions, such as gasoline or propane is far, far less destructive than other explosives. This is mostly due to the peak pressure attained. For fuel air explosions which are uncontained, it's far lower than real stuff. I saw a movie of a test of a rail car shipment of acetylene once. The baseline test was a large tank of propane, each material was on a rail flatcar, then rammed into a boxcar sized 'barricade' made of steel reinforced concrete, specifically for this test. The propane explosion was impressive, but the rail car and barrier were undamaged, the tank scattered about 50%, a fire continued for many minutes. The acetylene ......looked like the movie film had broken. From one frame to the next, in slow-motion, 100% white screen. About 6 seconds later (slow mo, maybe 1/10th sec real time) the color turned yellow then gold, then tiny black dots were seen....revolving in the air. Whoah! After the video of the test was done, an announcer was shown walking down the tracks, with the impact point initially behind the camera, explaining the test. As the camera rotated 180 to show the results of the blast....the rail flatcar, was gone, the rails were bent vertically and ended at the edge of a large crater where the rail boxcar sized concrete and steel barrier had been. GONE, entirely, and a huge crater. This is why they ship calcium carbide solid and use it to make acetylene locally. The propane and acetylene loads carried similar energy, just released VERY differently. The pressure wave of the acetylene must have been 1000 or 10,000 times higher than the propane.

Without getting into the politics of the issue, a 20 lb tank of propane sitting out in the open if it springs a leak may catch fire or may not catch fire. But if you bring that tank into an enclosed place, like inside a garage, shack or tent with the tank springing a leak that allows enough propane gas to fill up the enclosed area once you introduce an ignition source you are going to have an explosion. Sometimes just the escaped gas will explode, and sometimes the tank containing the remaining gas and fumes could overheat and explode, that’s where the shrapnel comes from.