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[Dago]

UDOT admits it was at fault in backyard artillery accident

Michael Rigert DAILY HERALD

The Utah Department of Transportation said it was most definitely at fault when an artillery round that easily could have killed several people landed in a Pleasant Grove family's back yard Wednesday afternoon. The round was meant for avalanche control in Provo Canyon.

Tom Hudachko, a Utah Department of Transportation spokesman, said crews were conducting
avalanche control with the cannon in the vicinity of Slide Canyon and Lost Creek when the 105 mm howitzer projectile was launched over the mountainside. A total of eight rounds were fired by a gunner team, and it initially appeared the final round was a dud.

"We fired an errant shot that missed (its target) ... the shell was loaded with too much gunpowder that caused it to overshoot the target," he said. "We take full responsibility for the incident."

Pleasant Grove police officers and firefighters were on the scene within moments of several residents calling 911. Residents were temporarily evacuated and streets blocked off while FBI and ATF agents along with the Utah County Sheriff's Department bomb squad were brought in to investigate.

Pleasant Grove Police Lt. Jim Taufer said investigators found shrapnel all around the site of impact, a ring that fits on the shell, and a detonation device. He said ordnance experts determined it was not a pipe bomb, an early theory, but instead a military-grade artillery round.

"Residents described it as a whistling noise, then an explosion," Taufer said, "an incoming missile."

Though the round was intended to travel only 3,000 to 4,000 yards, it instead touched down some 9,000 yards away in Pleasant Grove's foothills. Hudachko said the howitzer was accurately sighted in and ranged for the intended target. There was simply too much powder in the shell when it was fired.

Hudachko said UDOT routinely leases the artillery cannons and purchases rounds from the U.S. Army for the purpose of avalanche control. Though designed as a military weapon, the cannons also are a highly effective way of preventing avalanches by bringing down large accumulations of snow before they cause a deadly slide.

UDOT routinely conducts avalanche control operations in Little and Big Cottonwood canyons in Salt Lake County and Provo Canyon in Utah County.

He said nothing like this has happened before with UDOT.

"We've been doing this for 22 years, and this is the first incident," Hudachko said.

The howitzer rounds come prepackaged from the military with seven charges or bags of gunpowder.

Hudachko said UDOT technicians only should have put five bags of power in the final round, but instead it was fired from the cannon with all seven bags.

"When it was fired with all seven, it caused the trajectory and range to change," he said.

Hudachko said initial indications were the potentially deadly cannon overshoot was the result of human error.

He said the two gunners on the mountain Wednesday are highly trained in operating the howitzer for avalanche control and have a combined 31 years experience between them.

UDOT has launched an internal investigation of the incident. It is expected to last several days, though no disciplinary action has been taken.

Two UDOT gunners were contacted by the Daily Herald about the incident but deferred all comments back to UDOT.

Hudachko said UDOT reacted quickly to the incident once it was determined the round had overshot the target and landed in a neighborhood.

The agency's executive director, John Njord, visited the Connor family, whose back yard was hit by the round, and their neighbors at 10 a.m. Thursday.

"His top priority was to talk to the homeowners and offer any hope we could," Hudachko said. "We want to reimburse them for any home and vehicle damage."

UDOT risk management teams were at the Connors on Thursday surveying damage in the neighborhood.

Hudachko said 51 105 mm howitzer rounds have been fired in Provo Canyon for avalanche control this season. The department has used a total of 550 rounds in four canyons this year, most of which were used in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Avalanche control using the howitzers in Provo Canyon has been indefinitely suspended pending the results of investigation.

Scott Connor said he's not upset with UDOT about the accident and understands agency officials are doing everything they can to make sure it never happens again.

"It's obviously a freak accident," he said. "UDOT has been very responsive and very caring. I'm just more thankful that no one was hurt."

The Connors' neighbor, Laura Belnap, said the state has done a good job with taking responsibility for the accident and asking what it could do to make things right.

"It's not everyday a howitzer round lands in your neighbor's back yard," she said.

Report

[Maverick]

That definately falls into the "OOPS!!!" category. I'm sure glad there were no injuries other than property damage.

[Charon]

I remember about 20 years ago a National Guard unit out East over-bagged a howitzer, over shot a range and hit an expressway. No one was killed in that one either. Somebody did get killed on post at Ft. McCoy Wisc. about the same time due to a similar accident, as I recall.

Charon

[Kegger26]

The whistling sound they heard sounded like this...this is most likely what they saw too.       http://s50.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=20PKVEB22RME50ZRUCJ334WP87

[Hawklore]

Err.. oops?

[Dinky2003]

Originally posted by Kegger26
The whistling sound they heard sounded like this...this is most likely what they saw too.       http://s50.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=20PKVEB22RME50ZRUCJ334WP87

I never noticed how well movies and video games captured that whistling sound.  I always thought that you wouldn't hear that whistling in real life and that movies and games just used it to tell the viewer/player that artillery was being used.

On a side note, why were they using a 105mm howitzer for avalanche control?  Isn't that a bit overkill?  Shouldn't they be using a 50 or 75mm cannon that's not quite as dangerous but just as effective?

[ASTAC]

Thats why artillery pieces are for the military...and not civilians...should just have the local national guard do it.

[Kegger26]

Originally posted by ASTAC
Thats why artillery pieces are for the military...and not civilians...should just have the local national guard do it.

 Why? Are they experts on avalanche control? Do guys with six weeks of AIT on the use of a 105 Howie and two weekends a month worth of tranning on the use of such a weapon system do a better job? Am I missing somthing here, or did you just have a bad idea?

[ASTAC]

Originally posted by Kegger26
Why? Are they experts on avalanche control? Do guys with six weeks of AIT on the use of a 105 Howie and two weekends a month worth of tranning on the use of such a weapon system do a better job? Am I missing somthing here, or did you just have a bad idea?

Apparently the UDOT isn't qualified either..However using that sort of equipment is better handled by people that train on it alot...National guard practices quite a bit..Just ask anyone who lives near Camp Blanding in Florida or any other National Guard artillery range.

[Kegger26]

Yes...I am sure those ppl that live in that area hear shots being fired all the time..however this isnt from one unit. This is from EVERY unit in the US Military comming to that area to train for a few days at a time. This kind of training only takes place once every year or two. As a member of an Army reserve unit I cant tell you our budget just doesnt allow us for that kind of hands on training all the time. Each unit has there own budget. Training cost money..and blowing the crap out of stuff cost even more money.
 These DOT guys have been doing this for twenty years...this is there first mistake. Now take just five years from any of the US Militarys live fire ranges and see who has had more "incidents". Fact is becuase these guys do this ALL the time they are alittle better at blowing big bellybutton holes in the side of a mountain than the US Army could ever dream about doing.
 Now when it comes to combat related stuff, I will take my boys in green. They know how to lay down a wall of fire and keep it there like a set of sheilds on the  Star Trek Enterprise. These DOT guys do not. So I say we let the DOT guys do there surgical destruction. And we keep our boys working on learning how to keep those sheilds up so the Captain wont have to yell at Scotty no more.

[Dinky2003]

What is it with people thinking that the military automatically knows how to use heavy weapons?  

News flash:Humans aren't perfect.  We make mistakes.

The National Guard would be just as likely, if not more so to make a mistake with the artillery, ESPECIALLY since they're using this artillery in a way that's not practiced by the military.

[ASTAC]

Of course maybe the biggest lesson here is...They are using a weapon for something it wasn't designed for..there's got to be a better way.

[Dinky2003]

Originally posted by ASTAC
Of course maybe the biggest lesson here is...They are using a weapon for something it wasn't designed for..there's got to be a better way.

How would you suggest destroying an unstable sheet of snow then?

Personally, I think the cannon is perfect, but they really shouldn't be using a 105mm cannon.

[ASTAC]

seems to me certain sound frequencies should do the job. Be safer and much less expensive.

[Kegger26]

Originally posted by ASTAC
seems to me certain sound frequencies should do the job. Be safer and much less expensive.

 I dont think the technology is there yet. I know our MP unit is looking at some less leathal sound devices that are suppose to cause pain and discomfort...problem is there is no way to direct the sound. I seem to think this would be the same problem faced when trying to move snow off the side of a hill. That same feq that disturbs the snow, would seem to me bug the hell out of humans around as well.