A jury convicted Edward Wyman of a RCRA storage violation (42 U.S.C. § 6928(d)(2)) after a fire at his residence in June 2009 caused the evacuation of the surrounding community. The jury further made a special finding that the defendant’s conduct Defendant's backyard knowingly placed nearby residents in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury (42 U.S.C. § 6928(e)).

Due to the ammunition that was being “cooked off” in the fire, first responders had to wear bullet proof vests upon arrival to the defendant’s residence as the blast sent thousands of bullets into nearby yards and burned down a neighbor's barn.

Wyman, a self-described former shooting enthusiast, had stored an estimated 1 million rounds of corroded ammunition dating back to World War II in four sea-cargo containers, as well as multiple five-gallon buckets throughout his jumbled yard. He had also packed two refrigerators full of gunpowder, including powder for military howitzers, and stored hazardous industrial solvents that contained 1,1,1-trichloroethane and tetrachloroethylene without a permit.

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)