Small Town Misfit

Angleton, TX
Constant ammunition fire kept Angleton firefighters away for more than an hour Friday night as they watched a trailer home burn to the ground.

Firefighters responded to the fire in the 3700 block of CR 34 at about 7:30 p.m. Friday. As they pulled up, the heat was setting off ammunition inside the trailer, preventing them from getting near it, Angleton Assistant Fire Chief Hardwick Bieri said.

“I was told there were guns and ammunition all throughout the house,” Bieri said. “We backed away because it got too dangerous.”

Standing a few feet away was Ben Salazar, 52, who lived at the home with his son, Adrian Salazar, 16.

When asked where he would stay Friday night, Ben Salazar said solemnly, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Adrian Salazar told firefighters he was smoking a cigarette in his bedroom and went to the bathroom. When he came out, he noticed his room on fire, Bieri said.

“Next thing I know, there’s a flame by my door,” Adrian Salazar told firefighters.

Ben Salazar had lived in the trailer home since 1990.

“I was outside mowing,” he said. “He came running out of the house and it was on fire.”

Bieri said it was not known exactly what kinds of ammunition were in the trailer, but shotgun shells and small arms rounds were among them.

“We weren’t going to take a chance,” he said. “There were some high-powered shells.”

While firefighters monitored the blaze, insulation melted off an electrical wire, causing a transformer across the road to catch fire, Bieri said.

“There has not been a quiet moment,” he said as rounds of ammunition continued to fire.

Three Angleton fire engines and two Rosharon engines responded to the fire, and most of them had left by 9 p.m. Ammunition continued going off intermittently, and Bieri said firefighters stayed on the scene to monitor it late Friday.

No nearby structures caught fire and there were no injuries.

Found in The Facts

Thanks Kathy!

Durango, CO
2:51 p.m., A man was setting off dynamite on the 15th hole of Dalton Ranch golf course to kill gophers. Deputies were unable to make contact with the reporting party.

Found in the Durango Herald

Missoula, MT
Officers received a report of something that resembled a bomb on a picnic table near the tennis courts, said Lemcke. Upon investigation, they discovered a clock with water bottles duct-taped together to look like an explosive vest. It turned out to be part of a Halloween costume. “What is Halloween without a costume in bad taste, huh?” Lemcke said.

Found in the Montana Kaimin

Grass Valley, CA
A 2:10 p.m. caller from the 10000 block of Bettcher Court reported a neighbor was yelling at him. The neighbor called and said the first caller was swinging a baseball bat at his friends. The first caller then called back and said the neighbor’s friends were trying to run him over. Deputies went to the scene to mediate the matter.

And…

A 9:17 a.m. caller from the 12000 block of Gayle Lane reported finding dynamite in her front yard. Responding deputies said it was a road flare.

And…

An 11:24 a.m. caller from a store on Freeman Lane said a youth came into the store and let a rat loose.

And…

A 1:56 p.m. caller said three males were urinating on a fence on Town Talk Road.

And…

A 5:46 p.m. caller from the 300 block of Auburn Street reported her husband was drunk and shooting at a bird with a pellet gun. Officers responded and the man left for the evening.

Found in the Union

Ashtabula, OH
A patron pumping gasoline at Sheetz escaped injury Monday night when he lit a cigarette lighter to look down into his gas tank while pumping gas, an Ashtabula Township firefighter said.

The man didn’t believe the pump was dispensing gas into his car at Sheetz, 2411 N. Ridge E., at about 8:30 p.m. So he lit a lighter, and the fumes flashed him, according a firefighter’s report.

Two passers-by saw the fire and drove into the station to help the man, the report said.

Found in the Star Beacon

Thanks MB!

Grass Valley, CA
At 11:32 p.m., a man called from the 300 block of Alta Street to report people were making fireballs and compression from the fire was causing his house to shake. Police checked the area and were unable to locate the fireballs.

Found in the Union

Mukilteo, WA
Well over 150 people assembled at the Lighthouse Park near closing time expecting to see a fireworks show. The subjects had apparently misread a recent newspaper article discussing funding for the upcoming Lighthouse Festival fireworks show and thought it was tonight. Several people were upset and verbal with officers when it was explained to them that there would be no show and that the park was closed.

Found in the Mukilteo Beacon

Lake Tahoe, NV
Residents of Fairview Boulevard reported a “strange person” was banging on their front door and trying to break in shortly after midnight.

Deputies arrived on scene and found a truck with no license plates parked in the driveway and a flare burning in the street. The man outside the home told deputies he thought he knew the people inside and he had lit the flare to let his friends know where the party was.

Found in the Tahoe Bonanza

Erie County, NY
A Delaware Avenue resident called police because a note had been slid under the door and was afraid to pick it up. Thought it might be a bomb. It was a note and money that a neighbor owed the resident. Police reported no bomb, called off the dogs.

Found in Bee News

Erie County, NY
A one-pound propane can was placed in a sealed coffin that was then placed in the oven to be cremated. When the worker went to get the remains, all that was left was the burnt split open propane tank among them.

Found in Bee News