Bomb squads this morning detonated about half a dozen live artillery discovered Tuesday afternoon by City of Tacoma contractors as they excavated along the Puyallup River on the Tacoma Tideflats.
Construction crews were excavating soil to build a side-channel habitat as part of the Citys Superfund cleanup of the Thea Foss and Wheeler-Osgood waterways when they discovered the buried 37 mm anti-aircraft artillery about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. They immediately called the Tacoma Police Department.
A bomb squad responded and called in the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Unit from Fort Lewis. The EOD confirmed late Tuesday evening that the artillery was live, and the unit scheduled to detonate the artillery this morning with plastic explosives. Police evacuated crews from the site about 9 a.m. and closed sections of Portland, Lincoln and St. Paul avenues. The EOD moved the artillery to another location on the site in case more artillery was buried below. They detonated the artillery shortly after 9 a.m. and reopened roads by 9:30.
No one was hurt in the incident.
The City will coordinate with contractors to investigate whether more artillery remains buried on the site while crews work in other areas.
For more information on the Citys Superfund cleanup, visit http://www.cityoftacoma.org/fosscleanup.
