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Explosive removed from Sand Lake house
HOWITZER PROJECTILE: Fired at Alyeska Resort for avalanche control, it was brought home by a teenager.
By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News
Published: August 2, 2006
Last Modified: August 2, 2006 at 03:22 AM
Police, fire and Army officials swarmed in and residents were ordered out of a Sand Lake neighborhood Tuesday after authorities learned that an 18-year-old was keeping an unexploded artillery projectile used to bring down mountain avalanches as a souvenir in his home.
The teenager's father called police Tuesday after finding the 30-pound projectile that his son picked up near Alyeska Resort. The Anchorage Police Department, the Anchorage Fire Department and the U.S. Army soon arrived and told residents of about a dozen homes to vacate their quiet neighborhood.
The 105 mm projectile was removed after several hours of planning, then transported in a dozen-vehicle motorcade, which included a fire truck and marked and unmarked police vehicles with their lights flashing, to a remote section of Kincaid Park, where it was detonated in a dirt pit.
The Federal Aviation Administration closed off flights overhead while the artillery projectile was dealt with, said police Sgt. Jeff Morton, leader of the Anchorage Bomb Squad, a local, state and federal agency team. Traffic to the park was stopped and a radius of 3,800 feet was cleared around the motocross pit where police set the projectile off.
If the round had exploded at the home, it would have taken out the single-story structure and seriously damaged neighbors' homes, Morton said.
Morton said for the artillery projectile to make its way to an Anchorage neighborhood was highly unusual.
"I've had military ordnance, but nothing of the 105 (magnitude)," Morton said.
"We were lucky this time. The kid brought it home from 50 miles away and survived."
An official from Alyeska, which likely fired the ordnance during avalanche control, said the projectile contained 4.6 pounds of TNT.
Forest Vent, an 18-year-old senior at SAVE High School, found the artillery projectile with two friends about a month ago on a summit near the Alyeska Resort.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime find," he said Tuesday afternoon while sitting on his neighbor's lawn watching the drama unfold on his street. "It looked just like a bullet."
"My friends also thought it was awesome," he said.
The artillery projectile had rust spots and obvious wear and tear on its metal.
"I thought it was old," he said.
When he found it, he kicked it around small patches of snow, rocks and moss before picking it up and carrying it down the mountain on his shoulders, a two-hour hike through rough terrain. He and his friends then put it in the cab of his friend's truck and drove it to his Lexington Circle home.
Larry Daniels, Alyeska general manager, said the resort fires 600 of the 105 mm rounds in the mountains each year to bring down avalanches. Most of the artillery is Army surplus from the 1950s, he said.
The 105 mm rounds have a 1 percent dud rate and workers map out where the explosives fail to go off, he said. Every August, they spend hundreds of hours searching for the duds and detonating them.
"We recover almost all of the ones we fire annually," he said.
Workers usually find more than the six or so that they are looking for, though, because the projectiles accumulated in the mountains in the 1960s and 1970s, when records and maps of the explosives were poorly maintained, he said.
The last time a dud artillery projectile was picked up and taken off the mountain by a visitor was in the 1990s when a young hiker found one and packed it back to his vehicle. The hiker's mother discovered it around Portage Glacier and authorities took possession of it.
On the mountains, prominent yellow and orange signs warn hikers about the artillery, Daniels said.
"We make it very clear you are not to touch these things. If you find one, you are asked to mark it from a distance and report it to us."
The artillery projectile Vent discovered found a home next to the teenager's entertainment center in his bedroom for a month before his father spotted it and made him move it to the garage before calling police.
Tuesday afternoon, the Sand Lake cul-de-sac was off limits and nearby streets were blocked. At a soccer-field distance from Forest Vent's home, neighborhood teenagers milled about and adults took pictures while authorities strategized. Fire hoses were positioned in case of an explosion. Several U.S. Army troops showed up wearing flak jackets and helmets. Parked nearby was the Anchorage police's Explosive Disposal Unit.
Neighbor Walt Rowland said the response was "massive" He shrugged his shoulder, though: "I guess they had to make sure everything was done right."
Police say they have not ruled out the possibility of charges in the incident.
Daily News reporter Megan Holland can be reached at [email protected].
Explosive removed from Sand Lake house
HOWITZER PROJECTILE: Fired at Alyeska Resort for avalanche control, it was brought home by a teenager.
By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News
Published: August 2, 2006
Last Modified: August 2, 2006 at 03:22 AM
Police, fire and Army officials swarmed in and residents were ordered out of a Sand Lake neighborhood Tuesday after authorities learned that an 18-year-old was keeping an unexploded artillery projectile used to bring down mountain avalanches as a souvenir in his home.
The teenager's father called police Tuesday after finding the 30-pound projectile that his son picked up near Alyeska Resort. The Anchorage Police Department, the Anchorage Fire Department and the U.S. Army soon arrived and told residents of about a dozen homes to vacate their quiet neighborhood.
The 105 mm projectile was removed after several hours of planning, then transported in a dozen-vehicle motorcade, which included a fire truck and marked and unmarked police vehicles with their lights flashing, to a remote section of Kincaid Park, where it was detonated in a dirt pit.
The Federal Aviation Administration closed off flights overhead while the artillery projectile was dealt with, said police Sgt. Jeff Morton, leader of the Anchorage Bomb Squad, a local, state and federal agency team. Traffic to the park was stopped and a radius of 3,800 feet was cleared around the motocross pit where police set the projectile off.
If the round had exploded at the home, it would have taken out the single-story structure and seriously damaged neighbors' homes, Morton said.
Morton said for the artillery projectile to make its way to an Anchorage neighborhood was highly unusual.
"I've had military ordnance, but nothing of the 105 (magnitude)," Morton said.
"We were lucky this time. The kid brought it home from 50 miles away and survived."
An official from Alyeska, which likely fired the ordnance during avalanche control, said the projectile contained 4.6 pounds of TNT.
Forest Vent, an 18-year-old senior at SAVE High School, found the artillery projectile with two friends about a month ago on a summit near the Alyeska Resort.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime find," he said Tuesday afternoon while sitting on his neighbor's lawn watching the drama unfold on his street. "It looked just like a bullet."
"My friends also thought it was awesome," he said.
The artillery projectile had rust spots and obvious wear and tear on its metal.
"I thought it was old," he said.
When he found it, he kicked it around small patches of snow, rocks and moss before picking it up and carrying it down the mountain on his shoulders, a two-hour hike through rough terrain. He and his friends then put it in the cab of his friend's truck and drove it to his Lexington Circle home.
Larry Daniels, Alyeska general manager, said the resort fires 600 of the 105 mm rounds in the mountains each year to bring down avalanches. Most of the artillery is Army surplus from the 1950s, he said.
The 105 mm rounds have a 1 percent dud rate and workers map out where the explosives fail to go off, he said. Every August, they spend hundreds of hours searching for the duds and detonating them.
"We recover almost all of the ones we fire annually," he said.
Workers usually find more than the six or so that they are looking for, though, because the projectiles accumulated in the mountains in the 1960s and 1970s, when records and maps of the explosives were poorly maintained, he said.
The last time a dud artillery projectile was picked up and taken off the mountain by a visitor was in the 1990s when a young hiker found one and packed it back to his vehicle. The hiker's mother discovered it around Portage Glacier and authorities took possession of it.
On the mountains, prominent yellow and orange signs warn hikers about the artillery, Daniels said.
"We make it very clear you are not to touch these things. If you find one, you are asked to mark it from a distance and report it to us."
The artillery projectile Vent discovered found a home next to the teenager's entertainment center in his bedroom for a month before his father spotted it and made him move it to the garage before calling police.
Tuesday afternoon, the Sand Lake cul-de-sac was off limits and nearby streets were blocked. At a soccer-field distance from Forest Vent's home, neighborhood teenagers milled about and adults took pictures while authorities strategized. Fire hoses were positioned in case of an explosion. Several U.S. Army troops showed up wearing flak jackets and helmets. Parked nearby was the Anchorage police's Explosive Disposal Unit.
Neighbor Walt Rowland said the response was "massive" He shrugged his shoulder, though: "I guess they had to make sure everything was done right."
Police say they have not ruled out the possibility of charges in the incident.
Daily News reporter Megan Holland can be reached at [email protected].
