Wow,
"He was trying to start a fire and ended up grabbing the wrong thing out of his backpack," said Ethan Kunkel, deputy chief of the Kempton Fire Company. "What he grabbed was an explosive and it blew his hand off."
The only thing I can think of that would be this explosive would be a pressurized fuel canister. Even in the dark that would be a funny thing to mistakenly put in your fire. I am not sure I understand how this happened. I wish this hiker a speedy recovery.
“For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”
John Greenleaf Whittier
Bear banger? What other form of explosive might he have had?
Hitch
"May the four winds blow you safely home ..." Garcia, Kreutzmann, & Hunter
This story leaves me with a LOT of questions. Hope he's ok in the long run.
Yeah it does. Some where speculating he grabbed his canister. It also says he was alone. Wouldn't it be odd to be at Hawk Mtn Shelter alone this time of year? Perhaps he was camping in a camp spot and was "alone" at his camp. Lots of questions but ultimately, let's hope he's okay.
Is it possible that he was hiking with firecrackers? Do people do that?
Black powder?
Got to be more to story...
Good luck to the individual
Fuel canisters are pressurized gas, when they rupture from heat they do not truely explode but instead cause a BLEVE, that doesn't seem consistant with the injuries reported, as there would likely be severe burns.
Someone online stated that black powder was mentioned in the radio traffic during the initial dispatch, but that doesn't make a lot of sense either unless it was packed. This is probably going to be one of those stories that won't be clear until the results of the investigation are released.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Sounds like he might have had an m80. Maybe packed in near his firestarter. Just a guess.
Would have been a great place to have a sked. That's not mispelled. Pontoon was a good idea, maybe even a child's sled could have worked too.
Sincerest appreciation for the rescuers.
"Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
Call for his whisky
He can call for his tea
Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
Robert Hunter & Ron McKernan
Whiteblaze.net User Agreement.
My thought too. What does this mean?: "He was trying to start a fire and ended up grabbing the wrong thing out of his backpack," said Ethan Kunkel, deputy chief of the Kempton Fire Company. "What he grabbed was an explosive and it blew his hand off."
What explosive was he carrying? From the article it seems it was not a lighter or canister. Explosives on the AT? More bear paranoia with humans resorting to explosives to address it?
Hope he is okay, starting to look like honorable mention Darwin Award.
Black powder works entirely different than Gun powder (Smokeless Powder). It is still used for antique firearms. When black powder is ignited it burns at a high rate and if there is a pile, that would result in an explosion bad enough to such damage as blowing your off.
Blackheart
Maybe trying to start fire with his canister stove.....I hope he's right handed....poor bastard!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My guess is a homemade firework. I once made fireworks and it is very easy to make "flash" which is used in firecrackers. You could easily make one that would blow your hand off. All you have to do is mix two chemicals together.
There are so many miles and so many mountains between here and there that it is hardly worth thinking about