Dynamite found in curbing at construction site
12/08/2005
(SPRINGFIELD, Ma) - Interstate 91 was shut down for about 20 minutes
yesterday afternoon after construction workers discovered a stick of
dynamite protruding from a granite slab left under the highway at West
Columbus Avenue near State Street.
Traffic along West Columbus Avenue and northbound and southbound
lanes of I-91 came to a halt while members of the city Arson and Bomb
Squad removed the slab containing the explosive.
Squad members Lt. John Friberg and Brian Strout donned protective
suits and secured the slab onto the arm of a crane, which gently lifted
it into the bed of a Water Department dump truck. The bed was filled
with sand.
The dump truck was driven to Bondi's Island in West Springfield so the
dynamite could be detonated, said Fire Department spokesman Neil
Hawley.
The highway and West Columbus Avenue were reopened at 4 p.m.
The dynamite apparently was brought to Springfield inside the slab
from a quarry in Georgia, Hawley said.
It could not be determined if a blasting cap, which could trigger an
explosion, was attached, he said. All the bomb squad could see was a
piece of dynamite and some wires sticking out of the slab.
It was also not clear how long the slab had been piled under the
highway.
Police were called to the scene shortly after 2 p.m. The bomb squad
arrived about 20 minutes later.
The granite slab with the dynamite was lying in a pile with other slabs
just under the highway overpass at West Columbus Avenue and State
Street, near the entrance to Riverfront Park.
It was discovered by city Water Department workers who parked their
truck next to the pile.
Water Department employee Joseph Connor said he noticed the wires
sticking out from a hole in the slab and went to take a closer look.
Connor, who said he used to drill holes for dynamite demolition at a
previous job, said he recognized it as a single stick with a blasting cap
attached.
"It must have come from the quarry like that," he said. "If they cut it
with a saw or hit the cap, it could explode."
Connor said he tried to warn a fork truck driver who was about to start
moving slabs from the pile, but the driver did not believe him.
After that he ran to find a supervisor, who took him seriously, he said.
"If he hit it (with the fork truck) and it exploded, we'd be dead," he
said.
By PATRICK JOHNSON
pjohnson@repub.com
http://www.aggregateresearch.com/article.asp?id=6934
So, if I read it correctly the granite came from Georgia already with the dynamitee.
"The dynamite apparently was brought to Springfield inside the slab from a quarry in Georgia, Hawley said."
I mean it's just not everyday that you misplace your stick of dynamite.