BYU students displaced from dorm after homemade rocket fuel explodes
PROVO, Utah (KUTV) — Several students at Brigham Young University were displaced from their dorm after some homemade rocket fuel exploded, police said.
The incident happened Sunday around 4:30 p.m. when a fire alarm went off at a building in Heritage Halls, BYU police said. Firefighters arrived and found fire sprinklers were “flooding the main floor.”
"A resident in one of the dorm rooms was cooking up homemade rocket fuel," said BYU Police spokesperson Jeff Long. "It had flashed, caused a fireball, which then created enough heat that it tripped the sprinkler system."
Firefighters quickly put the fire out, but the dorm sustained water damage, displacing 22 students. Police said BYU is helping those students find alternative housing.
"A burned pop tart is probably one of our number one calls as far as fire response in that building," said Long, referring to the bizarre nature of the incident.
It's unclear why the 22-year-old man was making the homemade fuel. Instructions for making it and using it in model rockets can be found online, but Long said it's too early to know the motive.
"We don’t know right now," Long said. "We don’t have that answer today, until our investigation is done, of what he was actually going to with this."
Long described the man as very cooperative and forthcoming and said there's no evidence of sinister motives behind making the fuel. Long also said criminal charges are possible.
"We’re not going to rule that out," Long said. "I mean this was definitely reckless. This was something that he could definitely be looking at some very serious charges for."