Firefighters working Brian Head Fire found bunker filled with grenades, ammunition

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BRIAN HEAD — Firefighters working the Brian Head Fire over the summer discovered a bunker full of modified grenades and other ammunition when they heard bullets exploding as the fire raged, according to the Iron County Sheriff's Office.

The discovery led them to a handful of other similar storage caches located on state and federal lands, Iron County Sheriff's Office Lt. Del Schlosser said in a news release.

Firefighters were in the Henderson Hill area northeast of Brian Head on June 27 when they heard popping sounds, Schlosser said. They realized the sounds were coming from ammunition exploding in the fire.

After the sounds stopped, firefighters hiked into the area and found a cabin that had burned to the ground. They also found a bunker nearby that had been dug into the ground, according to the news release.

Inside the bunker, the crew members found dozens of “novelty hand grenades” that had been altered, with the bottoms of the grenades drilled out and replaced with threaded, galvanized pipe plugs, Schlosser said. Also in the bunker was ammunition, fuses and explosive powder, as well as some boxes being used for food storage.

Firefighters notified law enforcement officials from the Washington County bomb squad and bomb technicians from the Salt Lake City branch of the FBI. Law enforcement officers from the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management also helped with the investigation.

On June 30, officers interviewed a man in Parowan who was considered a person of interest in the investigation, Schlosser said.

The man cooperated with officers and eventually admitted that he owned the cabin and bunker, and that he had modified the grenades. He also told officers there were eight other locations at which he had either a cabin, a bunker, a storage cache or some combination of those, Schlosser said. All eight locations were on public lands, he added.

State and federal agencies are still investigating the cabins, bunkers and storage caches, Schlosser said in the news release.

“Those agencies related they take very seriously the danger explosive caches pose to firefighters and the public; as well as the degradation of the public land through the unlawful construction of shelters, bunkers and storage caches,” he said.

At the conclusion of the investigation, officers will turn over their findings to the Iron County Attorney’s office and to the United States Attorney’s Office in Utah, who will determine whether any criminal charges will be filed.