Tape Reportedly Shows Bomb Ignited Gasoline

The police bomb dropped on the roof of the row house of the radical group MOVE ignited a nearby gasoline can, according to an analysis of a videotape of the assault and fire that destroyed 61 homes.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in its Sunday editions that a frame-by-frame study of tape shot by WCAU-TV showed two distinct explosions.

The second explosion occurred a half-second after the blast from the police satchel bomb and came from a spot where Inquirer photographs taken 90 minutes earlier had shown a gasoline can. An Associated Press photo taken 11 days before the confrontation showed a MOVE member hoisting a can labeled “Gasoline” up onto the roof.

Focus of Controversy

Fire Commissioner William C. Richmond and Fire Marshal Roger Ulshafer visited the newspaper offices Wednesday, and Richmond took notes as he viewed the videotape and still pictures, it was reported.

Ulshafer said it was not possible to draw immediate conclusions from the pictures or videotape. He said investigators were doing their own analysis of the videotape, the newspaper reported.

How the fire started and spread has been the focus of controversy since the May 13 incident. Police Commissioner Gregore J. Sambor has speculated that MOVE members set the fire from inside their compound.

Mayor W. Wilson Goode has said it was suspected that flammable material was in the house but not on the roof.

Helicopter Circled Back

The police officer who dropped the bomb from a helicopter said there were no flames visible when the aircraft circled back for a look after the explosion, the newspaper said.

It also reported that most of the 640,000 gallons of water poured on the house earlier in the day overshot or bounced off the roof, leaving it virtually dry when the police bomb was dropped.

After the fire had spread to five rooftops, it was fought by only two water cannons, which were too far away to be effective, it was reported. Richmond has said firefighters did not immediately attack the blaze because of gunfire from the MOVE house.

Firefighters reportedly turned off their water cannons briefly after police complained that the water poured on the fire was causing so much smoke that it was nearly impossible to see the MOVE house.