(AP) LOS ANGELES
A fire inside a private weapons cache at a suburban neighborhood home sent bullets flying, burned two sheds down and forced the evacuation of nearby homes Sunday, officials said. Nobody was injured.
The blaze broke out around 8:43 a.m. inside a metal shipping container in the backyard of the home in the Reseda area of the San Fernando Valley, Fire Department spokeswoman d'Lisa Davies said.
Neighbors told dispatchers that thousands of rounds were going off and firefighters called for the Los Angeles Police Department's bomb squad to help deal with the situation, she said.
Ed Wyman, the owner of the weapons cache told KABC-TV he is an exhibitor at local gun shows and a container full of gunpowder had caught fire first.
"I thought it was stored right," Wyman said. "It was inspected a couple of years ago and they said everything was fine. It just went off in a big whoosh and then the ammunition cooked off ... and went off like popcorn."
The TV station said Wyman collects World War II-era firearms and ammunition and had a permit.
Five nearby homes were evacuated and two outbuildings burned, Davies said.
The cause of the fire was being investigated.
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