I’m not so sure...
Didja see that episode of Myth Busters?
To all the hoarders out there though: Happy now?
No way they might crack down on it now. Right?
I guess I'm one, except that I've been hoarding collecting ammo for about the last .... OHHHH.... 20 years and no, I'm still not satisfied.
I don't hoard. I stockpile. Just like I do food and other essentials.
What you hear when a live round cooks off is the explosive detonation of the powder in the casing. The force of the detonation has nowhere to go but through the mouth, as it was designed. This would cause the projectile, in effect, to fire. Due to the lack of uniform heat distribution produced by a fire, it is likely that most of the “thousands of rounds” of ammunition would have detonated this way, producing many stray bullets.
If the popping sounds they heard were in fact live ammo, there may be several mitigating factors:
1) The eyewitness may have grossly overreported the number of rounds he heard;
2) the ammunition may have been stored in a concrete shed, like a blockhouse, that would have contained the force of the bullets without allowing them to penetrate;
3) the ammunition may have been kept in cans inside metal lockers of safes, which would have the same effect.
I think these are possible but unlikely scenarios.
As for “cracking down on it”, there are no laws against stockpiling ammunition. I currently have well over several thousand rounds (how’s that for vague?) stored in several secure locations.
How does a fire consuming someone’s ammunition stockpile result in the opportunity for an “I-told-you-so” in your mind? Have you been vigorously campaigning for limitations on how much ammunition one can buy?