JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Sublette County Unified Fire (SCUF) was dispatched yesterday to help determine what a strange substance was and how to dispose of it. In the end, an explosion was the answer.
Staff at the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale discovered a questionable vial it had in its inventory for as long as anyone could remember. In fact, there were no records of how the museum had obtained it in the first place. The mysterious antique bottle found in the basement recently had probably once been a donation but no one knew for sure. The bottle itself was thought to date to the 1870 to 1890s.
The reason for caution was the contents. The small bottle held a quantity of concentrated nitric acid. Nitric acid is a colorless liquid acid used in the manufacture of substances including fertilizers, dye, explosives, and many other chemicals. Nitric acid can cause severe health hazards, is very toxic by inhalation, and it is very corrosive through skin contact.
SCUF contacted the Regional Emergency Response Team from Rock Springs who, in turn, responded together with the Sweetwater Bomb Squad to assist with the incident. Hazardous materials technicians from the Regional Response Team safely removed the nitric acid from the museum. Because the antique container was crystalized and potentially unstable and reactive, the Sweetwater Bomb Squad used a bomb robot to open the container and allow the Hazardous Materials Technicians to test and definitively identify the substance.
Due to the instability of the product, specialists from the Regional Response Team and Sweetwater Bomb Squad determined the safest way to dispose of the nitric acid was to detonate it in the parking lot of the museum rather than attempt to transport it. Bomb technicians successfully detonated the product in a safe manner and hazardous materials technicians collected the remains for disposal afterwards.
