General Forums >> Firefighter Down & Firefighter Safety >> Propane Bottle Warning
Propane Bottle Warning
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Posted 2 months ago URGENT- Methamphetamine cooks are buying propane tanks from the exchanges at
Wal-Mart, Kroger, and emptying them of the propane gas. Then they fill the
propane tanks with anhydrous ammonia, which they now have a recipe to cook
Methamphetamine. After they are finished with the propane tanks, they
return them to the store. The stores refill the tanks with propane gas,
unknowing to them the improper substance that was inserted in the tanks and
sell them to their consumers. Anhydrous ammonia is very corrosive and
weakens the structure of the tank. It can be very dangerous when mixed with
propane gas and hooked up to a grill, recreation vehicle, etc.
You should inspect the propane tank for any blue or greenish residue around
the valve areas. If there are evidences of these substances, do not
purchase the propane tank and advise the vendor of your findings.
The information was researched, and you should check out the following
website
for more details. They also have pictures for you to view.
Jeff Draper
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| Posted 2 months ago Another worry i can see to this is that we show up at a fire scene and instead of propane blowing out the relief valve out comes this nasty stuff. As if the tanks were not dangerous enough at a fire scene to begin with. |
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| Posted 2 months ago Although there is some fact to this post, there have been some very compelling arguments too. The big one is why would a Meth Cooker take his tank in, pay money for a new tank, risk being caught, and then empty out the propane? http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/methtank.asp I have personally seen one tank that was in an exchange system that had a slight greenish tint to the valve, but it could have been just a patina from weather too. I agree one can never be to careful it is better to be safe and check it than to not look and have one that slipped through the system. Eric M. Gildersleeve
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| Posted 2 months ago Well, this pertains to the propane tank part, but not so much the Meth lab part. At Unicast it is company policy when a torch is low, or empty to throw a new cylinder on. No big deal. But, we go through 10-30 tanks a day. I was always under the impression that the half cylinder,s and even the empties, should be treated as a hazard, and put in special containers indicating so. We are told to throw them in the regular trashcans, which then go into our compator, and then off to __________ (Destination unkonwn). Is there a specific law or rule pertaining to this, and how they are supposed to be disposed of? |
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| Posted 2 months ago RCRA has a "hazardous scrap metal" exemption. a landfill is not going to take empties, but scrap yards sometimes will. this, though, reminds me of something that happened a few years ago in St. Louis. a couple of bozos had emptied a fire extinguisher and filled it with ether. they were driving up I-55, and the passenger had the extinguisher between his knees. the valve ruptured, the cylinder exploded, and killed him, seriously injured the driver, and caused a multiple-car pileup. |
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| Posted 2 months ago Thanks for the heads-up. Just what I needed, another way to die. I'll print out the article, and make sure all the guys get a look at it, we have a high-density of RV's in the area during summer from all over the country, and respond to incidents pretty regularly involving them. |
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| Posted 2 months ago Thank you for the information. |
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| Posted 2 months ago definately good info to have have and something i'll pass round to my friends---------------thanks |