WATCH: Police Detonate 20,000 Pounds Of Fireworks

NPR | By Krishnadev Calamur

Published March 18, 2015 at 5:42 PM EDT

How long does it take to detonate 20,000 pounds of fireworks? The answer, courtesy of the Midland, Texas, Police Department, is 3 1/2 days.

A court ordered the destruction of the illegal fireworks. The department's bomb squad, along with those from Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo, assisted the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the controlled detonation.

And what does that controlled detonation look like? Here's the answer — in the form of a 48-second video from the department's Facebook page:

Krishnadev Calamur

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.

See stories by Krishnadev Calamur

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