BLACK POWDER and wildfires.

[Help]
Need some recommendations and will appreciate ONLY some serious ones due to the magnitude of this potential problem.
With one wildfire currently only around 15 or 20 miles away from us (we live on a little 35 acre hunk of land outside of Trinidad, consisting of a lot of hills with many many ponderosa, pinion, cedar trees, cactus, rocks and a lot of scrub oak brush) I am now wondering about my little accumulation of black powder. Have about 10 or 15 pounds of various grades of black powder, stored in a large fiber glass container, in one pound containers in both tin and/or plastic. Don't really want to cart it along IF we have to bug out/evacuate and hate to think of it staying home and jeopardize the safety of any fire fighters. Also, don't like the thought of just digging a hole and burying this stuff.
I'm just looking for some serious (non-bull shit) suggestions so please keep the funny stuff to yourself. Many thanks!!
[Help]

Moving the black powder to a friend or relatives in an unaffected area now before a short notice evacuation is about your only other option to burying it, away from any structures, in a deep enough hole that would not be effected by a fire.

Or put it in a sealed metal drumfor bolted to the ground over top of a hole and a large hole cut in the bottom for the blast to shoot down out of. (This very large diameter and large large capacity cannon pointing into the ground.)

But really the best thing is to move it now before it is an issue or move most of it.

Do you have the option of constructing a "bunker" for it? Say a double walled box with enough space between the walls to put say 6" of sand? The construction of pillboxes and bunkers in the south pacific during WWII consisted of an interior wall of logs spiked together with up to 2' of compacted sand and then an outer wall of logs and then covered with up to another 2' of sand.
Withstood everything but a direct hit from a 16" naval gun.
Shouldn't be to hard to construct on a smaller scale.
You could even do a couple small ones to break up the lot.
A blast proof and fireproof container would be cost prohibitive.
A Knaack type job box with a false outer wall with sand/dirt to take up the space could be an option.
Or do a pre evacuation and get it out.

If you dont want to bury it underground, move it out now, if you think you could be at risk.

I live in pueblo but I work in trinidad and go down there 2-3 times a week, if it comes to having to get it out, I have a dry room with my guns and ammo. I can haul it to pueblo and put it in there for you until fire threat is over.

fire proof safe, if you are that worried about then the investment would be worth it,

the black powder will be an issue, you may get a firefighter killed as he tries to save your home.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rockhound

fire proof safe, if you are that worried about then the investment would be worth it,

the black powder will be an issue, you may get a firefighter killed as he tries to save your home.

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gun/black powder in a safe becomes a bomb in a fire, fire proof or not.

I was gonna suggest that if you need to evacuate, just dump it out on the ground outside and cover it in water. It will then be inert and won't hurt anyone. Even if it ignites, since it is not under pressure there is no safety concern.

If I ever need to emergency evacuate my plan is just destroying my powder supply, both smokeless and black powders. I will take the loaded ammo. I might need to buy more powder if I am able to return, but that is better than hurting someone. Small price to pay.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Colorado Osprey

I was gonna suggest that if you need to evacuate, just dump it out on the ground outside and cover it in water. It will then be inert and won't hurt anyone. Even if it ignites, since it is not under pressure there is no safety concern.

If I ever need to emergency evacuate my plan is just destroying my powder supply, both smokeless and black powders. I will take the loaded ammo. I might need to buy more powder if I am able to return, but that is better than hurting someone. Small price to pay.

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Why destroy it when you have plenty of forewarning and can move it to a safe location and not have to worry if an evacuation at a moments notice is pending ?

Been thinking about the bunker idea, more so this year. Not just for firearms/ammo but as a place to toss the valuables on the way out. Kinda like a root cellar/'fraidy hole.

Thanks for all the suggestions and that offer to hold the BP for me. I believe the easiest method would be to just haul it along with the rest of our bug out stuff.
Thanks again!!! [Beer]