A former bomb disposal officer for the British Army has lifted the lid on what it's like trying to disable a device that could eviscerate his entire body and cause widespread destruction.
Speaking to LADTV, Chris Fuller revealed the delicate process that goes into making sure the bomb is disarmed and declared safe.
"For fuse immunisation, the bomb disposal officer will drill into the fuse, pump saline solution into the fuse and it clogs it up," he said.
"If the bomb had any chance of doing its final tick, it won't do it because we've now done fuse immunisation.
"But now the inside is full of explosives so now we have to remove it. It's very crude. We cut into it, remove the metal case and then place a high-pressure steamer and it melts the explosive and it pours out underneath.
"The moment we are at a moment where the explosive is considered safe either to move or to destroy, that is what we do.
On his first job, Chris was tasked with defusing a bomb located in the middle of London. After carefully following the process he described, a charge was placed on top of the bomb and they detonated it with huge success.
He said bomb disposal jobs in the UK are 'relatively safe' because they use conventional ammunition disposal.
Advert
But since leaving the British Army, he's been doing humanitarian work in the Middle East by disposing of bombs left by Islamic State.
In this arena, Chris says the way to go about stopping a bomb exploding is very different.
"We're now having people in their backyards making things or being forced to make things in an improvised manner," he said.
"It's not designed to function the same way as a conventional ammunition. You don't know how it was built. You don't the standards it was built to.
"You don't know the materials that were used therefore the threat is much higher when you approach an item like this"
Chris admits the job can get to you, adding: "I've even found myself asking myself 'what the hell am I doing here'."
He prefers doing humanitarian work because before he didn't feel like he 'was given much back'.
"Now I'm dealing with people who I've never been involved with before and they have very little," he adds.
"Anything I can give back now with the training that I've had, I can give them all this real estate back, give them back their homes.
"To me, that is powerful."
Featured Image Credit: LADTVTopics: Interesting, Community