'Bomb factory' house to be destroyed

The house will be burned to dispose of hazardous materials and chemicals

By Kristina Davis and J. Harry Jones
Originally published November 30, 2010 at 10:35 a.m., updated November 30, 2010 at 7:58 p.m.

ESCONDIDO — A house in unincorporated Escondido where pounds of volatile homemade explosives and hazardous chemicals have been found will be burned down, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said Tuesday night at a community meetings.

"There is no viable method to render the property safe," Gore said. "It is also not habitable. The most effective way is to destroy the residence by fire."

The county took action Tuesday to declare a public emergency which will allow for the destruction of the house, Gore said at the meeting, which was attended by about 300 people and held in San Marcos.

"Where there is a threat to the public health and safety, the government can take these kind of actions," said Rod Lorang, senior deputy county counsel.

Officials said the house is so cluttered and so filled with dangerous materials that there is no way to safely remove everything. Photographs of explosive powder sitting in clumps on the floor were shown during the meeting, which is still ongoing.

No date for the operation was yet set. Authorities said it won't happen at least for several days because precautionary measures need to be taken, including the building of protective barriers .

Dozens of homes in the neighborhood will be evacuated during the fire and dozens of other residents will be asked to "shelter in place," hopefully only for a few hours, San Marcos Fire Chief Todd Newman said at the meeting.

The house is west of Interstate 15, and the freeway will be shut down for several hours during the operation. The evacautions and shelter in-place zones will be on both sides of the freeway.

"We have a high confidence level these chemicals will be neutralized very fast, but we will evacuate out of an abundance of caution," Newman said. If you are asked to evacuate, "Please do so," he said.

Some area residents attending the meeting expressed concern about what might be in the house that authorities don't know. "There could be a dirty bomb," one shouted.

Another attendee, a woman who declined to give her name, said, "You don't know what might be there. This is our neighborhood. These our our homes. It sounds like you guys don't know what you're doing, that you're just grasping at straws."

Authorities tried to allay their fears. Dr. Wilma Wooten, county public health officer, said that there are no radioactive materials in the house. "We don't have a dirty bomb in there," she said.

"We were very cautious about looking at how this would be done.....this is not something we normally do," fire chief Newman said. "These chemicals will be neutralized very fast," he said.

Newman said there is a chance that some debris might reach two nearby homes, but officials believe the powders will quickly be consumed by the 1,800-degree fire without significantly exploding.

Meeting details
Local and federal law enforcement agencies are hosting a town hall meeting about cleanup plans for the house at 1954 Via Scott in unincorporated Escondido.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Woodland Park Middle School, 1270 Rock Springs Road, San Marcos

Kellen Knipp, who lives next to the house on Via Scott where the hazardous materials were found, said he and his mother were told earlier by authorities to prepare for the worst. They have been evacuated from their home, along with the residents of another home on the street, since Nov. 18, when a gardener suffered serious injuries after chemicals exploded in the backyard of a house rented by George Djura Jakubec, 54.

Knipp said he and his mother were earlier instructed by authorities to move everything out of their home, including furniture, today in case something goes wrong during the operation to render Jakubec’s house safe.

“We have to go today. We have to show up with a moving truck,â€