Brush fire in Palm Bay’s ‘Compound’ was accidental, caused by rocketry enthusiasts, officials say
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That the club was approached about helping with their static motor test and the club declined is an interesting tidbit. I wonder if it was a matter of the club members not having the expertise the students needed, or if the club believed the students were in over their heads.
It was caused by college students who were performing static motor test. They were performing test on their own without club supervision on public land and apparently had improper fire suppression. The motor catoed. They wanted to test at one of our launches and the request was denied.
FredA
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Interesting that the local club declined to help.
Isn't college outreach a big thing with NAR and TRA?
It's one thing if they didn't seek help, but in this case they were turned away.
Why the shunning?
In retrospect - given the bad press - wouldn't helping have been a good idea?
Isn't college outreach a big thing with NAR and TRA?
It's one thing if they didn't seek help, but in this case they were turned away.
Why the shunning?
In retrospect - given the bad press - wouldn't helping have been a good idea?
rfjustin
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If the request was denied, it must have been denied for a good reason.
I help out many collegiate and high school rocketry activities in IN, IL, and WI. Only fringe (WTF) projects are not allowed to proceed. With a little coaching and direction, nearly all projects I've seen make it to the pads. If they didn't get to the pads, there is always an obvious reason why.
My .02
It's entirely possible that they received help in the form of being told that their project was a really bad idea and they shouldn't do it.
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The club president is employed by the college as the rocketry advisor. How does this jive with the way things are being described?
A lesson was learned?
I'm concerned about how others would view that club now. I actually joined their FB feed a few months ago since I am considering a move down there and saw that article posted last night. 
NTP2
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This is 100% what happened (in my opinion I don’t have any inside knowledge)
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FredA
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Was help offered and rejected or were they just turned away?
NTP2
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I don’t know, it just seems the most likely considering my experience with college kids and the rocketry community.
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This is an unfortunate incident, however it is positive to the club and NAR/Tripoli that the media is reporting that they were not involved in the fire. Unless we hear definitively why the club declined to assist the college students, any comments on that matter are pure speculation and don't really help our cause.
I’ll throw this out there and it’s part factual and part speculation. I didn’t hear that the request was denied until yesterday. We are both TRA prefecture and NAR section. Our club flies NAR rules 99% of the time. There is little to no interest in research and it’s brought up every year at club meetings. I don’t know any one in our club who has ever made their own motors including the president. We will fly research by special request and advanced notice and each request is thoroughly evaluated. I never saw the request for this static test so I can only speculate that the request went directly to the president and he had his reasons for turning it down. We deal with 5 local universities at every launch and always work with them and assist in every way.
Sorry - you know something, or you're just making a wild guess and announcing it as '100% what happened'?
Many of us know what happened last time an incident occurred in one of our hobbies... especially with the reach this incident is getting, as I've already been sent this article twice outside of rocketry groups.
NTP2
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See above it was mostly me saying I agreed with @Antares JS I should have made that clear.
'I agree' and 'that's 100% what happened' are very, very different.
NTP2
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I know I’ll go change it by adding “in my opinion”.
kramer714
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Let me start with I don't know any of the details about the fire. Having said that I have helped / consulted / advised / told 'old guy stories' to a few high school and college teams. It is their project, but my time and experience, I tell them if they dont follow the advice thats up to them, but if they dont follow the recomendations, I wont work with them. Not being sucessful, not my problem, not being safe or smart if im 'attached' that is my problem. More than once I have said I dont want to be involved because I am concerned about what they are doing, and they are not listening to safey concerns.
NTP2
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This, most of the time they are smart enough to quit but not this time
maybe you’ve just got a new “old man story”.
Based on actual information from the folks involved, much of what is reported here and in the article is incorrect.
They had permission to test, had a fire suppression plan, extinguishers, and called 911 as soon as the fire started.
Not everything on the internet is true.
Tony
They had permission to test, had a fire suppression plan, extinguishers, and called 911 as soon as the fire started.
Not everything on the internet is true.
Tony
astronwolf
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I think this is them: https://www.kxrucf.com/
I posted back in January 2023 on how the younger generations will take rocketry in a direction that is not dependent on NAR, or TRA, or whatever collection of boomers thinks they are "in charge." This organization is an example of what I was referring to.
They may have had permission from the city, that I do not know. They were told they would not fall under our umbrella. I'm not sure 2 ABC fire extinguishers are adequate for brush fires considering how dry it has been down here. It was suggested that they use H2O extinguishers and they said "we'll look into it later".
Do they still make Indian Pumps for H2O suppression?
Yes they do. Our club has a 5 gallon hand pump that you carry on your back except it’s plastic but still heavy.
Very interesting. Well my curiosity has been satisfied. I guess they'll see how well their organization handles any liability they might incur over this incident.
Yessir. Our club has a couple a half dozen indian pumps. Don't leave home without 'um. A good rake is also useful for grass fire fighting.
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Bad news for rocketeers. Even though the fire was caused by non-club college students doing their own static test firing of a motor, it may just add to the fear of model rocketry as a fire causing activity in the minds of the general public.
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