Orlando School Evacuated After Bomb Explodes

Local6.com via Yahoo! News ^ | October 31, 2005 | Staff

[proudofthesouth]

When I was a freshman in high school an ex boyfriend of mine flushed an M80 down the toliet in one of the boy's bathrooms. It blew it all to pieces and he got suspended.

[Chanticleer]

ping

[LibertyRocks]

Photos now available at the Ch.6 Website:
http://www.local6.com/news/5213515/detail.html

[ChildOfThe60s]

Yeah, I remember an m-80 wrecking a toilet in the boy's bathroom (1969) in my HS in Orlando.

[nw_arizona_granny]

LOL, Liberty, I should have known that you would find the report before I did.

[LibertyRocks]

Thanks for pinging this to your FRiends Granny! I orginally posted it to breaking news, but then asked that it be pulled out of there... Still, I think it's important for people to know what happened! (o:

[LibertyRocks]

OK... NOW they are reporting it wasn't a bomb AT ALL. Wouldn't it be rather easy to see that a heating device had failed? I wonder what caused them to think there was a device and that it was thrown through the window (was it broken)? Hmmm...

Here is the updated update article posted at the Orlando Sentinel:

UPDATE
School evacuated, but no pipe bomb
Posted October 31, 2005, 1:47 PM EST
Memorial Middle School was evacuated this morning after the discovery of what authorities initially said was a pipe bomb in the girls locker room.

Investigators later determined that an electrical device failed, causing a mechanical explosion in a heating unit, according to the Orlando Police Department.

The device ignited, burned some flooring and caused an as yet undetermined amount of damage, Assistant Fire Chief Rudy Johnson said.

Classrooms at the school on West 29th Street were evacuated as a precaution after the 10 a.m. discovery. A bomb-sniffing dog had been summoned during the time in which authorities thought there was a pipe bomb.

Memorial Middle School has re-opened with the exception of the girls locker room.

[GingisK]

A firecracker?

Nuclear one, judging by the usual overreaction.

[pissant]

I was thinking of you when I read the story! ;o)

[Calpernia]

If this was something small, like a cherry bomb or stink, would it be called a device?

[Calpernia]

Never mind my question. I should have read on first :P

[LibertyRocks]

LOL... No Problem! My "corrections" probably didn't help out any either. Now there is a report saying it wasn't a "device" at all - this after they were SURE whatever it was came through the window?

Oh, well... I'm just glad none of the students, staff, firemen or LEOs got hurt.

[LibertyRocks]

Another update for this story... adds a few details.

Bomb Scare Forces Orlando Middle School To Evacuate
ORLANDO, Fla. -- There was quite a scare for students at an Orlando middle school after a call about a bomb forced them to evacuate. Investigators said, though, it wasn't a pipe bomb that caused all the confusion at Memorial Middle School.
(...)As it turns out, the damage was not caused by a bomb at all. Investigators said a heater started up over the weekend and a mechanism inside of it caused an explosion. The end cap blew off and broke the window.
(...)Fire investigators said most of the calls of suspicious devices turn out to be nothing, but since a bomb threat was called into the school just days ago, they weren't going to risk it.

As I said previously, I'm glad no-one was hurt. I'm still curious about the broken window (at least this article addresses that point). Presumably, if the window was broken from the endcap blowing off wouldn't the glass be on the OUTSIDE of the window? The policeman said he was sure the "device" was thrown in through the window - which would presumably mean that the broken glass was on the inside...