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I've had a backfire when I have a fresh load of wood in and not enough oxygen on a hot bed of coals. When it ignited it went boom and did not appear dangerous and it was self contained.
It is impossible to do anything but speculate, given the vague nature of the report, but barrel stoves burning sawdust are popular in some areas, and they most certainly can explode, actually blowing the stove apart.
"Being a bit bleary eyed at 2 AM and needing to reload the stove due to the extreme cold of the overnight, the sleepy wood stove operator did not realize those were not the 1 1/2" maple rounds he had brought in that evening but instead were the dynamite sticks he had brought home from his job at the quarry earlier in the day."
maybe it was a flatlander cleaning his rifle with the clip sitting on the stove top! i've seen it before. luckily there was a chuck there to save the night!