Today I was searching for Mythbusters clips online (because I was a bit bored) and happened upon this Mythbusters clip where they test a James Bond myth of him shooting a propane tank to cause an explosion so he could get away, or something like that. Spoiler alert: the Mythbusters crew couldn’t get the propane tank to explode in a fireball so it appears there’s nothing to worry about. Maybe. Here’s the video clip…
[youtube _FHTXwpVMvs]
But then I was curious and Googled “shoot propane tank explode” and saw the following video. Spoiler alert: they had a small fire going next to the propane tank before shooting it but don’t seem to make that fact well known…
[youtube zxdnIYkBc24]
There are other videos that make it more obvious that a fire is going, such as this one…
[youtube N0_DFosJ1OE]
Regardless, I figure that even if a propane tank couldn’t explode and cause a giant fireball if shot on it’s own, I can envision how the bad guys might take advantage of a massive release of propane to accelerate, say, a Molotov cocktail and immediately engulf the entire side of your house thereby forcing you out something quick! Heck, if the explosion were large enough it might even cave a wall in.
I’d imagine there are other ways to accelerate a fire very fast (gasoline comes to mind) but if I want to be fast and frugal about it and make a giant ruckus while I’m at it, why not utilize what’s on scene?
Anyway, I bring this up because this is the first house we’ve been at where we have a large propane tank (70 gallon capacity, I think) that is nice to have for prepping purposes but could also turn into a bit of a liability, at least, in this scenario.
So, what do you think? Is this concern way off? Did I miss something? Or, do I have something to potentially be concerned with? I don’t honestly know what to think as I never set anything on fire without intending to extinguish it later and have yet to shoot a propane tank to see what’ll actually happen. 😉
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