By DAVID PARKER
Emergency responders are faced with many challenges while answering the “call of duty.” With terrorist activities a mainstay from both domestic and foreign sources, responders now face the unconventional realm of homemade explosives – or improvised explosive devices (IEDs) – more frequently. It is critical for emergency responders to have a basic knowledge of some common devices being built, how to quickly recognize them, and how to take the appropriate actions necessary to keep a dire situation from worsening. This article will explore the ease with which one can obtain an IED; the abundance of information readily available on IEDs; and the ways to acquire the information needed to procure and assemble materials into these IEDs with little knowledge, expertise, or specialized equipment. I will also define the specific types of materials and devices a responder may encounter, placing significance on how to plan and train for instances where an IED may be present or in the process of being assembled. Foremost for responders is safety recognition using common sense, best practices, and emerging information from lessons learned.
Since terrorists and bomb enthusiasts are consistently improving their bomb-making methods, you must ensure that well-trained personnel respond to these incidents to lessen the impact of an IED event. Provide groundwork for this preparedness through an easy guideline so emergency responders and incident commanders can plan for and train on IED incident scenarios. These guidelines include generalized recognition techniques; safety zones; and, most importantly, calling for the proper authorities to mitigate the scene.
Creating an IED
Recipes for the manufacturing of explosives are more readily accessible thanks to the vast availability of print sources and the Internet. The how-to directions available for certain compounds, used by either the novice or the experienced criminal, are particularly capricious, featuring recipes that are often imprecise, unstable, and unsafe – conditions that have led to many deaths and injuries for those attempting to craft an IED. You can also find information on construction and deployment of homemade explosives in legitimate military manuals and in terrorist training handbooks such as those produced by al-Qaeda and ISIS. Devices you may encounter can range from a simple pipe bomb to a high-tech ordnance.
Suspected IED-making locations may feature a wide variety of household chemicals and powdered or crystallized materials that resemble synthesized narcotics. Because many IED construction methods do not require the traditional cooking or heating procedures often seen in bomb-making material production, responders may mistake a “bomb-making lab” for a “drug lab.” Drug traffickers will use IEDs as booby traps to destroy evidence, deter theft, warn uninvited visitors, and injure emergency responders. The homemade bomb maker can and will employ these same tactics. Responders must now retrain themselves to look for bombs much like they did years ago when the drug labs began creeping their way into urban and suburban responses.
Some of the easiest fabrication techniques for an IED use peroxide-based mixtures and ammonium nitrate and fuel oil mixtures.1 Peroxide (oxidizer)-based explosives such as tri-acetone triperoxide (TATP), hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide are routinely formulated by individuals who have little to no chemistry expertise for purposes of terrorism in places such as England and the Middle East, although bomb production with TATP has now made its way to the United States and responders should anticipate its use by novices as well as criminal factions. Common ingredients found in TATP and HMTD include ordinary household chemicals such as acetones, hydrogen peroxides, and acids. (1) Responders must be reminded that different fuel and oxidizer mixtures will produce explosives of varying volatility and lethality, and peroxides are sensitive to heat, shock, and friction.
Another popular IED is the ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO) explosive, which combines ammonium nitrate (fertilizer) and a fuel oil (usually diesel). Someone can obtain these inexpensive components easily from feed stores and gas stations and can create larger areas of destruction and catastrophic loss of life than those produced by other IEDs. Be extremely cautious inside a suspected IED construction area; do not touch, move, or attempt to handle or disarm any devices. Leave this job in the hands of specially trained and equipped personnel. If you encounter these materials, immediately leave the area and inform other responders, taking care not to use radios, cell phones, or mobile computers without first establishing an intrinsically safe distance.
Clues that give away a bomb-making lab include any items that arouse suspicion, such as bomb-making literature, large quantities of commercial fireworks or household matches, road flares, ammunition, smokeless powder, blasting caps, a strong acidic odor, household batteries, fuses, and switches. Some raw bomb-making materials are temperature sensitive and are often kept in a portable cooler for transport. If you find these coolers, treat them with caution and, preferably, leave them unopened. In addition to the clues already mentioned, other suspicious items could include piping, propane containers, cell phones, circuit boards and wiring, bundles of nails, bolts, drill bits, and marbles.
Terrorist Intentions
There are many domestic terrorist groups within our borders fully intent on bringing down the government. Their demonstration for a willingness to commit atrocities on their fellow citizens including emergency responders was demonstrated with the arrest of members belonging to a militia group known as Project Seven.2 This group was found in possession of intelligence relating to the personal lives of local firefighters and police officers. To illustrate the severity of this problem, in July 2012 alone, there were numerous instances of responders unexpectedly coming in contact with IEDs. In Ohio, police found a murder suspect’s home containing 30 homemade IEDs.3 In Massachusetts, police serving a routine arrest warrant found numerous federally banned explosive devices within a suspect’s home.4 In Colorado, a murder suspect booby trapped his apartment with IEDs, intending to kill emergency responders he knew would soon be searching his residence.5
Internet Information
I can’t emphasize enough the power and ease the Internet offers to anyone interested in this topic. In addition to the previously referred to article, “One Easy Way to Build a Bomb,” which lists laboratory equipment needs, preparation instructions, and the procedure for creating TATP, you can also find the article, “Project Diesel,” a how-to page with the ingredients list and mixture ratios to make ANFO.6 This effortless availability of instructional resources reinforces the fact that IED production can be a fascinating and desirable “pastime” as well as a vehicle for the production of weapons of destruction for evildoers.
Education and training resources for emergency responders include the Department of Homeland Security-sponsored “Incident Response to Terrorist Bombing” course, where responders are schooled on planning for an IED or a terrorist event. The Office of Bombing Prevention (OBP) also provides planning resources focused on deterring, detecting, preventing, and responding to an IED threat. The OBP accomplishes its objectives through a nationally coordinated effort by the analysis of counter-IED requirements and capabilities, information sharing, IED awareness, and vigilance. The emergency responder will continue to encounter these individuals, their materials, and their lairs while in the course of the emergency response. Education, awareness, and preparation as illustrated in this article will be the keys for keeping responders and others safer while facing these challenges.
References
1. Entropic Memes: Random musings on history, politics, and more. (n.d.). One easy way to build a bomb. Retrieved from http://www.slugsite.com/archives/201.
2. Brush P. (March 3, 2002). Montana militia busted. Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/montana-militia-busted.
3. Ferrise A. (July 13, 2012). Bombs taken from the home of alleged Falls shooter. Tribune Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/574070.html.
4. Whitehead D. (July 16, 2012). Explosives found in Foxborough hotel room of area break-in suspect. The Norton Mirror. Retrieved from http://www.wickedlocal.com/norton/news/x558821091/Explosives-found-in-Foxborough-hotel-room-of-area-break-in-suspect#axzz22GNVuWHU.
5. Flaccus G and M Gruver. (July 21, 2012). Bomb squads disarm traps at Colorado shooting suspect’s apartment. KTVB.com Retrieved from http://www.ktvb.com/news/163294186.html.
6. Huffman J. (n.d.). Project diesel. Retrieved from http://www.boomershoot.org/general/diesel.htm.
DAVID PARKER is a 32-year career officer with the Woodlands (TX) Fire Department. He is also an emergency services commissioner for Harris County (TX) Emergency Services District No. 29 and an arson investigator for the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office. Parker has a master’s degree in emergency services management and the designations of chief executive officer and certified fire executive.
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