Nashville's Big Bomb Was a Very Rare Device, Experts Think

[JoeOtterbein]

The Daily Beast

Fire, flash, and power signal a volatile fuel-air mix that even terrorists avoid.

SpyTalk
Published Jan. 01, 2021 12:37PM ET


By Elaine Shannon

Find his test sites, top bomb experts say.

Anthony Quinn Warner’s device, although probably made of common over-the-counter components, is unique in the annals of mayhem, according to seasoned FBI bomb experts consulted by SpyTalk.

"We’ve never seen an improvised thermobaric device before in this country or any country,” says Dave Williams, who conducted the FBI’s on-scene investigations of the World Trade Center, Oklahoma City, Pan Am 103 and Unabomber bombings, among other notorious incidents. Thermobaric refers to a gaseous fuel-air explosion.

“The reason is, it's very difficult to get the timing down to get an optimum mixture of air and a liquified carbonaceous fuel such as propane, methane, acetylene or natural gas,” Williams told SpyTalk. “He couldn’t have done it the first time and made it work. There had to be a test area.”

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more at link

[rzemanfl]

1. Could they track the location of his cell phone? n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

2. I'll Believe It When The Detailed Report Comes Out

Thermobarics are generally set off by another high intensity energy release.
A bomb within a bomb, so to speak.
Military FAE devices release a flammable vapor on descent, then a small explosive device goes off. That energy provides temperature and live plasma to turn the vapor cloud into a BLEVE.
What those military devices use is a vapor that has no upper explosive limit. Gasoline, for instance, no matter how well vaporized, won't detonate unless it's 1.4-7.6% by volume of air. Too close to that is what happens to a car running too lean. Runs poorly.
I have a thought on how one could assure proper explosive range, but I'm not going to provide any ideas to crazies.
But, I'd think the type of organic compounds needed to have its own oxygen supply would be hard to get without detection. Those I'm thinking about are highly regulated chemicals, and aren't easy to get in reasonably small quantities.
I've worked with a couple, and we needed to devise a special apparatus to get small quantities from a 100# cylinder.
Most gas companies (CO2, nitrogen, oxygen, helium, etc.) don't offer the other products.
The readily available flammable gasses have VERY narrow explosive ranges, and with no intrinsic oxygen don't burn fast enough for a supersonic BLEVE.
If(!), this turns out to be a true, high velocity thermobaric device, there had to be a railcar full of clues missed in advance.

[Klaralven]

6. Could a hydrocarbon be used to generate the rather large flame?

Propane or acetylene might be released by the initial explosive detonation and then generate the flame when ignited?

Sort of adding a Hollywood explosion effect.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. If One Used Those...

...they are the BLEVE agents.
The problem with gaseous hydrocarbons is the limited explosive range. Propane is over 7% wide, but acetylene is EXTREMELY narrow.
The narrower that range, the harder to idealize to get high velocity combustion.
What the military devices use are compounds that carry their own oxygen so 50% combustion is possible with zero added air. Getting the stoichiometry for 100% combustion is pretty easy.
Could this be propane? Yes, definitely. It would explain the audio which has no high pitched crack prior to the big roar.
Perhaps a bottle of pure O2 would come into play. And, procurement would be easier without arousing suspicion.
Still difficult, but possible.
We had a fatal accidental BLEVE at an ethylene plant about 15 miles from our house a couple decades ago. Damage was tremendous, aside from the half dozen killed. I think the Texas City accident was a BLEVE, too.
But, in the local event, it was believed over 600# of ethylene was involved. In an RV, getting the right fuel:air mixture with multiple bottles of propane would be tough.
Good thought on this. I was taking the concept of FAE devices too literally.

[bluestarone]

3. When this guys girl friend told police about a bomb in the RV

They stated that he wouldn't answer the door and they couldn't enter the RV. I'm wondering why they couldn't have brought a Bomb sniffing dog with them, around the RV? That would have gotten a judge to give a search warrant then?

[Klaralven]

4. The RV was parked within a fenced enclosure

[bluestarone]

5. True BUT

I'm positive they would have picked up a scent!

[NutmegYankee]

9. It the bomb used a hydrocarbon, what's to detect?

A vehicle is filled with hydrocarbons. Gasoline, motor oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, power steering fluid, etc.

[bluestarone]

11. Simple thing is we DID NOT know what type of bomb components it was.

I still say with the girl friends testimony, a Judge MIGHT have allowed them to check it out.

[NutmegYankee]

14. Assuming they could get a warant to get a dog close, it still might have not hit on the RV nt

The dog is useless frankly. A warrant to search the RV would have done the trick.

[NutmegYankee]

10. Also, by law they cannot bring a dog into an enclosured area.

And case law by SCOTUS has even banned walking a dog up to the front door. All require a warrant.

Now, if they had testimony from a witness that there was a bomb there, that should have been enough to get a judge to allow a search warrant. Judges issue warrants on weaker testimony for drugs all of the time.

[Baitball Blogger]

12. He wasn't black?

[bluestarone]

13. That's it!

Actually this is a big part of our problems!!

[MineralMan]

7. Are any of those "experts" actually working on the investigation?

If not, then they have no way of knowing what type of explosion it was. What is "SpyTalk?" Some web discussion forum?

This sounds like pure speculation on someone's part, not actual information.

ETA: SpyTalk is yet another clickbait website that speculates on the actual news. It is bullshittery, like most clickbait sites. BTW, for others reading this, to really access that site, you have to provide your email address. I suggest you not do that, to be quite frank.

For that matter, Daily Beast is also a clickbait site.

Surely you can do better than this, Joe.

[BusyBeingBest]

8. I wasn't aware until now that Warner had been hunting for "lizard people" in a local

state park. That's a plot twist.

[DBoon]

16. How do you test this type of bomb without getting attention from authorities?