Explosion, Fire Rock Bend's Nosler Bullets Plant

[45nut]

All Workers Evacuated; No Immediate Reports of Serious Injuries

By Adam Aaro, KTVZ.COM
POSTED: 2:33 pm PDT June 2, 2010

UPDATED: 3:54 pm PDT June 2, 2010

Evan Gonzalez
Initial reports indicated all were evacuated from SW Bend Nosler bullets facility.
NOSLER PLANT EXPLOSION, FIRE
Story: Explosion, Fire Rock Bend's Nosler Bullets Plant
Video: Explosion, Fire hit Bend's Nosler Bullets Plant
Slideshow: Images of Bend Nosler Blast Scene
BEND, Ore. -- An explosion and fire rocked a portion of the Nosler Inc. bullet manufacturing plant in southwest Bend Wednesday afternoon, prompting evacuation and closure of streets in the area; despite a blast felt for several blocks, all 100 workers apparently were accounted for.
The fire was reported initially as a smoke report shortly after 2 p.m. at the facility at 107 SW Columbia St., which was evacuated. By 2:15 p.m., there were reports that an explosion had destroyed part of the building. But by 3 p.m., reports from the scene were that all workers on scene at the time of the blast had been accounted for.
A company spokesman said he was told that around 2 p.m., work was under way in the ballistics tunnel, a testing area for ammunition, when there was a flash, followed moments later by a massive explosion.
Fire crews were reporting no flames visible and that all were out of the plant, though one person reportedly suffered smoke inhalation and a thorough search was planned, to be sure all got out.
Bend Fire did a personnel callback to ensure adequate staffing and called in Redmond Fire for mutual aid to cover a station with an ambulance.
About 100 people work in the Nosler facility, a company founded in the late 1940s by John Nosler. Witnesses said there was a flash in the ballistics-testing tunnel area of the facility, and everybody apparently got out before the blast hit.
One nearby resident described the blast as like "feeling a bomb inside your house." After her house shook violently, she looked out to see a huge plume of orange smoke that she couldn't see through.
Barb Gonzalez at first thought it was an earthquake, when her house was jolted by the blast. "This one felt like a 5.5 (magnitude) jolt, said the survivor of the 1994 Northridge quake. Her second thought was an explosion.
Bend Fire called in a special operations team to go through the rubble, which apparently buried at least one evacuated worker's car in debris.
People several blocks away said the explosion rattled their office windows.

http://www.ktvz.com/video/23773234/index.html

A very big chunk of the plant is gone,, having toured this plant before they suspended tours due to insurance company demands I can tell you the ballistics lab is basement level and the damage you see is ground level,, it appears at first glance the seconds store was hit,, the area where the actual bullet machines work was hit badly too if the view in the video jives with my memory.

http://www.ktvz.com/video/23773234/index.html

[dubber123]

Wow, glad everyone seems to have escaped. A muzzleloader company here in state had an explosion last month, and 2 employees were killed.

[waksupi]

Well, that sucks. Expect another hoarding incident.

[MtGun44]

That's amazing. I know that the Sierra reloading area is just adjacent to their shooting
tunnel, and I would presume that the same would be the case at Nosler. Sounds like
somehow they had a bunch of powder or primer (maybe more likely primers) go up.

Very good news that everyone got out OK. That tends to make me think that they got
a fire going somehow and it eventually hit a supply of primers and/or powder.

Do they actually manufacture ammunition here or just bullets and do testing like
Sierra does? If they manufacture ammo then they would have had literally tons more
powder and primers on hand than if they were just quality testing bullets.

Bill

[BLTsandwedge]

The report assumes no one seriously hurt. That's a tribute to their attention to safety- good on 'em. Having said that, their commercial liability insurance would- by the nature of their work- be written as 'excess lines.' That translates into 'high risk.' I hope they recover, rebuild and.....still be able to afford the excess lines umbrella they'll need to operate.

Good luck Nosler......

Tom

[No_1]

I wonder if the "flash" was caused by years of unburnt powder in the tunnel itself?

Robert

[felix]

Not out of the question. ... felix

[AZ-Stew]

This sounds similar to what happened in a gun shop (Fowler's, if I recall correctly) in Pasadena, CA, in 1985 or so. They had a shooting tunnel below ground. Someone was shooting, a fire started, then... BOOM! The building fell into the hole and almost all was lost in the ensuing fire. Too bad. They had some Civil War artifacts, a top level John Wayne Commemorative set, a M-53 Smith (complete, mint) and many other valuables that went up in smoke. The only thing good that came of it was that the sales records for two of my firearms were destroyed in the fire. Sadly, I think they lost one employee (a member of the ownership family, if I recall correctly), while the rest escaped.

In the Nosler story, the orange cloud screams "nitrogen", meaning a lot of powder went up. I'm glad they had good training and escape procedures in place. I think (with nothing concrete to back it up) that they'll pull themselves up from the ashes and continue to serve us. I certainly hope so. It would be a shame for Nosler to become a historical footnote.

Regards,

Stew

[Heavy lead]

agreed, I use more Nosler J boos than any other, beside that though they are a fine USA manufacturer, and we need more of them not less. Hope to God they rebuild and knock on wood HERE, not over, or under THERE.

[nicholst55]

I think we should all show our support by buying some Nosler j-word bullets and/or brass. I know I will.

[sundog]

I was needing a particular [Nosler] product, so I went to one of my well used on line vendors and stocked up. Good time to do it to show support for someone in the community. I'm hoping by the time I use up what I just ordered they will be back in full swing.

[257 Shooter]

Wow! That is terrible. I sure hope they are able to rebuild.

[The Double D]

Sounds like Glock's fire of several years ago.

[Chapped Lips]

any update on the explosion at the nosler plant?
any immediate word as to production capabilities?
hopefully they can pull thru this and remain in business......this outfit has been a stalwart contributor to our firearm heritage.

[45nut]

The machinery escaped unharmed and the computers and of course the people and they have a stockpile on hand to ship. A Contractor has already been hired and is apparently on site and working to rebuild what was damaged. Little disruption should be seen by shooters out here.