Plane crash false alarm could lead to changes for explosives use in Harris Township
An explosion mistakenly reported Saturday as a plane crash with mass casualties in Harris Township will likely prompt the municipality to discuss implementing a new ordinance, the township’s manager said Monday.
Nearly 60 emergency vehicles from across Centre County — tankers, brush trucks, ambulances, medic units — were dispatched about 4 p.m. Saturday to Bailey Lane after a caller reported plane crash.
State College police later determined Tannerite was shot and caused an audible explosion followed by a plume of smoke.
The potential ordinance could be similar to the township’s brush burning code, which requires people to notify the Centre County Emergency Communications Center at least one hour before burning, township manager Amy Farkas said.
She plans to start the discussion during the township’s board of supervisors meeting scheduled for Feb. 10.
“Good, bad or indifferent, I’m glad that residents are seeing things and they’re calling,” Farkas said. “... I’d like to see a system where someone could call and say, ‘Hey, this is what I’m doing,’ so the next time someone calls, dispatch can just call the fire chief and ask them to check it out so we’re not sending all of these resources.”
State law and the township’s ordinances outline where fireworks can be set off, but not explosives like Tannerite, which is legal, unregulated and routinely used for target practice.
The compound is sold as a mix of two chemicals that when kept safe are inert, but become explosive when mixed together. Tannerite is an “uncharted area” for many municipalities, Assistant Boalsburg Fire Department Chief Greg Alters said.
“It was really no fault of anyone, but it’d be nice to say, ‘Take that stuff out away from where people are going to be concerned,’ ” Alters said. “It was kind of a big deal for about five minutes and then after that, we canceled it and sent everybody home.”
The township often receives phone calls about fireworks and gun clubs shooting in the mountains, but has never before received a report of an explosion, Farkas said.
Borough police are no longer investigating the incident, Lt. Bradley Smail said Monday.
“We need to encourage residents anyway we can to be a little more considerate when they are using these materials, which are perfectly legal,” Farkas said. “It would just be nice to get a heads up so that we don’t have this happen again.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 4:25 PM.