Live ammunition went off inside a Bradenton home as it was destroyed by a fire Thursday morning, reports said.
BRADENTON, FL — A Bradenton home in the 800 block of 65th Street NW was destroyed by a fire Thursday morning, according to multiple reports.
As firefighters battled the blaze, which started just before 10 a.m., they heard live ammunition, set off by the fire, exploding inside the home, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.
“It’s not every day we have a 7,000-square-foot structure fire with live ammunition. It’s very dangerous,” West Manatee Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski told the Bradenton Herald.
Manatee County Code Enforcement Officer Nick Riffe told ABC 7 that when the ammunition went off, officials moved bystanders away from the scene.
“My initial thought was to get these individuals away from the fire and get them in a safe location,” he said. “It was very loud. You think of a fireplace. You hear the popping and cracking. There’s debris that’s falling. It’s a very loud situation.”
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Two contractors were working in the home on a refrigeration unit and the homeowner were in the house when the fire broke out, according to reports.
One person was treated on the scene, while a second person, a welder working at the home, was brought to Blake Medical Center for treatment, reports said.
At least eight fire engines and about 20 firefighters were on the scene to put out the fire, reports said. Numerous agencies, including West Manatee Fire Rescue, Cedar Hammock Fire Rescue, Southern Manatee Fire Rescue, the Bradenton Fire Department, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Manatee County Code Enforcement and Manatee County EMS responded to the blaze.
The home belongs to Stephen Dye, the legal counsel for the Manatee County School Board.
