Fire Extinguisher Bomb

An mysterious explosion at a Post Office in Borlange in central Sweden has been traced back to a fire extinguisher.  The explosion which injured 6 people was unexplained for a period of time prior to authorities tracing it back to an extinguisher. 

According to The Local - A Swedish news website:

The explosion caused a the terminal to fill with smoke and left several people covered in white dust. Around 30 affected staff were given treatment to counter anthrax, but the whole episode turned out to be a false alarm caused by a power extinguisher.

...Police received an alarm over the explosion at 8.20am on Wednesday morning. The premises filled with smoke and the white powder filled the air, [Dalarna police spokesperson] Petters told The Local earlier on Wednesday.

Dalarna police led the investigation into the explosion although the Security Service followed developments after having been informed of the incident.

Fire Extinguishers are not known to spontaneously explode, however they are being used as improvised explosive devices (IEDs) more and more often.  We'll keep you posted as the story evolves.

Fire Extinguisher cannisters have been used as bombs more often than we would like to think.  In Thailand, a country that has been hit hard by violence since 2004, there have over 250 occurences of fire extinguisher being used as improvised explosive devices according to Thailand's Bomb Data Center.

The Bangkok Post Reports:

According to the BDC, there have been 1,987 bomb attacks since the re-emergence of violence in the South in 2004.

All the bombs were homemade.

Pol Maj Gen Saritchai said 674 of those bombs were found to be assembled in metal boxes, 253 were in fire extinguisher canisters, 169 were in metal water pipes, 95 were in plastic water pipes and 65 were in cooking gas canisters.

This video provides insight into just how powerful even a small bomb inside a fire extinguisher can be.  Imagine a 50 pound commercial extinguisher exploding in a crowded area.

Fire Extinguisher Bombs are a real and proven threat that is growing around the world, even here in the United States.  In order to ensure that fire extinguishers are not tampered with and that they do not fall into the hands of terrorists, fire extinguishers must be monitored 24 / 7 / 365 with an electronic fire extinguisher monitoring system.

The last thing we want to wake up to is a story of a fire extinguisher bomb going off in a crowded train station, airport or stadium.