Student almost burns down university with homemade rocket fuel

A student came dangerously close to burning down his university after making homemade rocket fuel on his stove.

The student and several others at Brigham Young University caused a fireball on 20th February after the liquid exploded and set off the sprinklers.

There was "flooding [on] the main floor” as a result and the students have had to leave the accommodation following the blast.

While the motive behind creating the fuel was unclear, the police said they’d have to wait “until our investigation is done” to release more information about the 22-year-old responsible.

BYU student making homemade rocket fuel starts dorm fireFOX/BYU Police Department

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"A resident in one of the dorm rooms was cooking up homemade rocket fuel," said BYU police spokesperson Jeff Long. "It had flashed, caused a fireball, which then created enough heat that it tripped the sprinkler system."

He added: "A burned pop tart is probably one of our number one calls as far as fire response in that building.”

While no-one was harmed in the fire, the sprinkler system caused water damage which led to 22 students in the building being forced to seek assistance in finding additional accommodation.

While the police aren’t ruling out malicious intent, the student is co-operating with them and there’s currently no evidence to suggest as much.

"We're not going to rule that out," Long said. "I mean this was definitely reckless. This was something that he could definitely be looking at some very serious charges for."

Thankfully no-one was hurt – and in future, may we suggest leaving the rocket science to people who really know what they’re doing.

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