[UPDATE 8:25 p.m.] Residents and Businesses Evacuated After Grenade Found on Arcata Street
A grenade was found tonight at the corner of 11th and I Street in Arcata. Other news agencies are reporting that homes and residences have been evacuated.
Reader Carol Andersen sent in this photo. She writes that she spoke to Sgt. Brian Hoffmann at the scene. She said he told her that the bomb squad will soon be detonating the device “where it stands.”
Andersen wrote that the Hoffmann told her that the Arcata Police Department “stumbled upon it.”
According to Andersen, he told her that the grenade appears to be real but it does not have a pin.
At 7:48 p.m. scanner traffic says, “Be advised they are about to detonate.”
We will update as soon as they do.
UPDATE 8:25 p.m.:
The grenade has been detonated according to Bobby Kroeker our reporter on the spot. It appears to have been a working device. On the grenade, the pin was gone but the “spoon” or handle was still in place.
According to Kroeker, the Bomb-bot had some issues with the fiber optic cable so they couldn’t use the bot. One of the officers got into a bomb suit, placed sandbags around the grenade and then detonated it remotely
He has sent us several photos of the Bomb-bot taken after the incident. The Humboldt County Bomb Squad allowed him to take several staged photos.
Note: In this brave new internet world, we interviewed Sgt. Brian Hoffman through reader Carol Andersen. She was on the scene talking to him and conveyed our questions and his answers as Facebook messages.
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“Well boys looks an expensive piece of lawn art, send in Bob.”
They could sell it to eureka to go with the over priced art they love to buy, so they come in over budget.
But the spoon….what?
Typo?
Sorry. Yes! I fixed it now.
I didn’t want to assume anything. Thanks for the quick clarification.
Stumbled upon, that’s scary
I guess I don’t know much about grenades…I thought after the pin was taken out and the handle was released it explodes a few seconds after…Isn’t that how it is in like every action movie ever made??
We have the same question. We have a call into to Sgt. Hoffman now. When we can, we’ll pass on the information.
The pin is suppose to keep the spring loaded “spoon” in place.
The fuse starts burning when the spoon separates from the grenade.
From the mechanical perspective something was fowling the spoon keeping it from releasing. Which means that this could have been a deliberate attempt to blow up whatever building it was found in front of that was avoided by chance.
or, it could have been an inert practice grenade like they sell at surplus stores here and elsewhere. They are real grenades, usually painted blue but not always…
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yep usually anything that is an explosive but not operable is painted blue. such as claymores or even grenades.
it takes a quarter lb of pressure to release the spoon and or activate the fuse. pretty unnerving when you are throwing one down range and the proper throw require holding it right by your head lol.