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Crime

22nd Feb 2022

Student makes homemade rocket fuel – almost burns down uni

Kieran Galpin

The student’s motive is not yet clear

A student at a University in America almost burnt down their school after cooking up their own batch of homemade rocket fuel.

Sometimes you watch a film and scream at the TV because you can see the characters are all doing something that will ultimately lead to accidents. Well, this is the same, except it’s unfortunately real life.

At around 4.30pm on February 20, several students at Brigham Young University found themselves homeless after the homemade rocket fuel a fellow student was making exploded. When firefighters arrived at the source of the fire at Heritage Halls, they found the sprinklers “flooding the main floor.”

“A resident in one of the dorm rooms was cooking up homemade rocket fuel,” said BYU police spokesperson Jeff Long. “It had flashed, caused a fireball, which then created enough heat that it tripped the sprinkler system.

“A burned pop tart is probably one of our number one calls as far as fire response in that building,” he added.

While the fire was quickly handled, the floor suffered incredible water damage, which led to 22 displaced students reportedly being assisted in finding additional accommodation.

Flat

Long said it’s too early to understand the motive of the 22-year-old culprit, and they will  have to wait “until our investigation is done.” The spokesman added that the student is very cooperative and there’s currently no evidence to support malicious intent.

“We’re not going to rule that out,” Long said. “I mean this was definitely reckless. This was something that he could definitely be looking at some very serious charges for.”

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