- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Authorities detonate homemade pipe bomb in Lakeport
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Thursday afternoon Napa County's bomb squad successfully and safely detonated what police said was a homemade pipe bomb that had been taken by a community member to the fire department earlier in the day.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said the object was made with a 10-inch cardboard tube, with black powder as the explosive agent. It resembled a stick of dynamite, he said.
“It was a very dangerous item,” and could have killed or injured someone, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said that at 9 a.m. Thursday a local woman called the Lakeport Fire Protection District to ask if they take fireworks for disposal, and was told yes.
He said that she brought the object to the fire department on Main Street, thinking it was a firework.
How the woman came into possession of the device is still under investigation, but Rasmussen said she told authorities that another individual had found it and brought it to her home. She had stored it for an unspecified period of time before taking it to the fire department to have it disposed of properly.
When the fire department personnel saw it, they called the police department at about 11 a.m., Rasmussen said.
When police looked at the device, they determined it was dangerous. Police officers and firefighters sealed the device in a room at the fire station and put in a call to the Napa County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad for mutual assistance, according to Rasmussen.
The bomb squad arrived at approximately 1:40 p.m. and was briefed, Rasmussen said. Bomb squad deputies determined that for safety reasons the device should be detonated and destroyed in the immediate area and not transported to another location.
Rasmussen said they began notifying residents and businesses in the immediate vicinity of North Forbes and Fourth streets that the device was going to be detonated in the area at 3 p.m. and to stay indoors at that time.
Lakeport Police officers and Lakeport Department of Public Works staff, with the assistance of a Lake County District Attorney's Office investigator, closed North Forbes Street between Third and Fifth streets to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said a robot moved the device to a blast safety area located on a large vacant lot near the Lakeport Fire Station on North Forbes Street. There, the device was detonated at approximately 3:01 p.m.
Once the device was detonated, the all clear was given and the roadways were reopened, Rasmussen said.
He offered his department's appreciation to the public for its patience and to the assisting agencies, in particular, the bomb squad from Napa County, which he said responds to many calls in Lake County.
In January 2015, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad had responded to help the Lakeport Police Department with suspicious packages found at the Lakeport Unified School District campus, as Lake County News has reported.
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