- Components of mining explosives were found buried during a landscaping project at a Washington Terrace home Monday.
- Officials evacuated nearby homes, and two nearby schools were placed into "secure status" as a precaution, but the materials were safely removed.
WASHINGTON TERRACE — A landscaping project at a Washington Terrace home took an unexpected turn Monday with the discovery of explosive materials buried in the yard as workers were digging.
"Residents in a limited area around the scene were evacuated, Bonneville High School and Washington Terrace Elementary School were put into secure status and Rocky Mountain Power shut off electricity to the area as a precaution," the Weber County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Fortunately, the Davis County Bomb Squad was able to safely remove the materials, components of some sort of explosive used in mining, and the devices didn't detonate.
Janie Weston, who lives at the home in the 4700 block of 175 West, didn't see the materials — she just quickly departed when she learned of the discovery.
"It was in a cigar box is all they said," she said.
The box was buried in a narrow strip of land between the garage of her home and a neighbor's yard, and Weston, who has lived in the house since the late 1980s, isn't sure how the materials got there.
"I have no idea," she said. She never goes to the area where the cigar box was found, overgrown with weeds before the landscapers started their work.
One of the landscapers who discovered the box said the workers were tipped off something might be amiss by writing on the box reading "explosives." Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Sean Endsley said the four items inside were red or orange in color, oblong and cylindrical, but they weren't dynamite, just some component of explosive materials.
Officials suspect the materials are "several decades old," the sheriff's office said. "If you come across suspicious packages or possible explosives, please remember to not touch or disturb the items, quickly evacuate the area, and call 911."
