'Like a bomb': Exploding tire that killed L.A. County firefighter was a little-known risk

[mahatmakanejeeves]

'Like a bomb': Exploding tire that killed L.A. County firefighter was a little-known risk

Rebecca Ellis
Sat, August 24, 2024 at 6:00 AM EDT
5 min read

No one knew the burning construction vehicle could become a bomb. … Not the driver who tried to douse it with an extinguisher. Not the workers who sent water gushing onto the engine. And not Andrew Pontious, an L.A. County firefighter dispatched to the Palmdale quarry on June 14.

Pontious had sprayed water near the vehicle for about two minutes when one of its nearly 7-foot tires exploded, according to a Fire Department analysis completed this month. … Hunks of rubber and steel shot the length of a football field. Pontious, 53, died instantly.

“It was like an IED,” David Pontious, Andrew’s brother who worked at the same Palmdale fire station before retiring this spring, said, referring to an improvised explosive device, as a roadside bomb in a war zone is known.

It’s common for tires to blow out in a fire, with pressure building until the air whooshes out with a loud pop. … But, sometimes, the tire doesn’t blow — it explodes. The air inside the tire combines with the heat, starting a chemical reaction powerful enough to create a violent shock wave. The larger the tire, the bigger the blast.

{snip}