Old artillery round found in basement causes evacuation
A 25-pound old artillery round found in a southside basement caused a brief evacuation of nearby houses Monday afternoon.
Just before 3:30 p.m., Lethbridge Police were called to a home along the 800 block of 8 Avenue South after an explosive device was located in the basement and moved into the backyard.
As a safety precaution, police evacuated the residence and neighbouring homes. Barricades were also set up as the public was asked to avoid the area.
“Patrols were called to the scene here with a report of a military device found,” said Const. David Easter with the LPS Explosive Disposal Unit.
“They didn’t know what it was. We’ve since identified it as on old artillery round, a 25-pound round. We’ve been in contact with DND (Canadian Armed Forces) and received information from them that it would be safe enough for us to transport it. So we’re going to remove it from the city, take it out west of the city, we have a secure location out there and we’re going to destroy it.”
Easter said with calls like this, the full risks are not always known ahead of time. So they err on the side of caution.
“Initially when the call came in, you don’t know what the risk is, so you assume the worst,” he said. “We don’t know if it’s a live round, if it’s a damaged round, or something’s been modified. So we want to take precautions for the public around here until we can identify specifically what it is. Then we start to downgrade the risk level.”
Easter also wanted to remind the public that if they find something similar, to please contact LPS.
“Please don’t disturb it,” he said. “Don’t send us selfies with you holding it up. It’s best to just leave it where it’s at; contact us. We are trained to come and deal with these things.”