The Farmington Police Department bomb squad safely removed explosives a man discovered in his home and delivered Friday morning to the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office in Bodo Industrial Park.
At 11:48 a.m., the bomb squad placed the materials in a bombproof container to be taken away from the Sheriff’s Office. Girard Street was subsequently reopened and business activities were able to resume.
“The bomb technicians from Farmington Police Department safely removed the material in a bomb proof container, and then they’ll take it off site to explode,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Chris Burke.
The man delivered the material to the Sheriff’s Office in an effort to do the right thing, said La Plata County spokesperson Sarah Jacobson. However, it prompted an emergency response and closed Girard Street as a precaution.
“The ordinance was similar to C-4 and could be molded to explode rocks,” Burke said. “However, (it) did not have an ignition source such as detonation cord or blasting cap.”
Burke urged residents not to transport suspicious materials.
“If citizens think or suspect that they might have an explosive or an unknown substance that they think might explode, we would ask that they call us and let the Sheriff's Office come to their location and for them not to attempt to move it themselves,” Burke said.
Burke said the man acted with good intentions and was not malicious.
Jacobson said transporting explosives, especially on busy roads, puts more people at risk.
“If it’s old or super explosive, sometimes even moving it can be really dangerous,” Jacobson said. “But three cheers for trying to do the right thing.”
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
