Found item prompts call to bomb squad; it was only a smoke bomb

Local authorities made a potentially explosive discovery Friday, April 12 at a local residence.

About 4:30 p.m., the Fort Scott Fire Department responded to a call for removal of an explosive or bomb at a home at 1102 S. Main St. Fort Scott Fire Chief Paul Ballou said Tuesday. The residents had found what they thought might be a grenade or other explosive device.

Ballou said the device turned out to be like "an old military smoke grenade" and presented no danger or threat. He said he was not sure how old the device was or what war or conflict it was used in.

"A lot of times, what we find is a family will have an older family member that in most cases, for whatever reason, had some of this stuff after they came back from the war," he said.

For this instance, Ballou said a couple of fire trucks were sent to the home and fire personnel attempted to identify the object. He said the fire department has dealt with enough discoveries of old military equipment that the device was identifiable through numbers on it.

"On this one, we could still identify the numbers on it," Ballou said. "Then we called the Olathe Bomb Squad and had them look it up for us. In this case, there was really no danger."

After the device was identified as a smoke grenade, there was no need for the bomb squad to come handle it; the fire department turned it over to local law enforcement officials, Ballou said.

"It was similar, if not the same thing that SWAT teams carry," he said. "It was a canister not quite the size of a pop can, with a pull pin on it."

Fort Scott Interim Police Chief Travis Shelton said the device was "not a danger as far as a controlled explosive." The police department will dispose of the device.

"Then we'll take it to a safe location and defuse it or let it go," Shelton said. "If for any reason, it's found to be explosive, we call outside agencies to take care of it. If we can't identify it, we don't mess with it. As a preliminary, we safeguard it and call in an outside agency. It's then taken to a safe location and defused or taken out of commission."

Ballou said in this case, the residents made the right move calling authorities to deal with a possible explosive device, especially when they're not sure what the canister contained or if it was a live bomb.

"We don't find them all the time; once every couple of years they'll find something like this, but not often," he said. "The citizens did absolutely the correct thing. They can call and we'll come out and take a look."

Ballou encourages local residents who find an unknown object while cleaning around the house or garage to do exactly what these residents did in this recent situation.

"If they find something, stop and call 911, and we'll get in touch with the right people," he said. "They'll tell us if we need to secure the area and if they think it might be an explosive. There are people with high-level training who can come in and dispose of it properly. In some cases, they have the right equipment to put it into a container to dispose of it."

Ballou said that while the find is not an everyday occurrence for the fire department, they're more common than people might think.

"If we get a call, it's not surprising to find an old military shell or something every now and then," he said. "There's still some old carbide out there."

Ballou said while he was growing up, it was common for several years to find old military equipment around his household.

"There were a couple of old military shells my dad had gotten somewhere; I think they were actually live rounds," he said. "We come across it still today. People will call when they're cleaning their house or old garage. The last few years, I really caution people on old stuff. They can buy an old cannonball at a sale and certain types were, for the most part, live rounds. We've come across those in the city within the last few years."