A Vietnam Veteran will be spending the next five years in a federal prison for illegally storing toxic and exploding hazardous waste in the backyard of his Reseda, California, home.
A federal judge has sentenced 64-year-old Edward Wyman in what is the longest term ever handed down by a California judge for hazardous waste violations, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
Wyman had reportedly stored approximately 1 million rounds of corroded ammunition dating back to World War II in sea-cargo shipping containers and five-gallon buckets in his yard. He also had two refrigerators full of gunpowder and industrial solvents. Hazmat crews often use top products from Impact Absorbents such as Polypropylene Coveralls and mbi-dex Disposable Latex Gloves for protection during cleanup operations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph O. Johns said an explosion at the home in 2009 sent thousands of bullets into nearby yards and burned down a neighbor’s barn.
It was extremely serious,” Johns told the news agency. “Wyman’s neighbors were awakened that morning by a thunderous explosion that sent a fireball rocketing into the early morning sky. Within seconds, the crackling of military ammunition filled the air. Some neighbors literally fled their homes, fearing for their lives.”
