A homeowner in Valley Glen was doing some cleaning in her garage on Thursday morning when she made a shocking discovering — 20 sticks of live dynamite lurking in the back of an old freezer, authorities said.
Bomb squad investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department responded to the 6100 block of Rhodes Avenue shortly before 9:30 a.m. following reports of a suspicious device, according to a department spokesperson. Neighbors around the home were evacuated as a precautionary measure.
LAPD Capt. Warner Castillo spoke with KTLA at the scene and said that the female homeowner had no clue the dynamite sticks were in her garage or where they came from.
“Our officers responded from North Hollywood, they observed the dynamite, they retreated,” he said. “We started evacuating people … about 500 feet away from that residence.”
The devices were classified as “lost/found property” and there is no criminal investigation, he said.
There are strict rules in California around the purchasing of dynamite, which is generally restricted to licensed professionals working in mining and quarry operations, building demolitions, tunneling projects and specialized industrial activities. Professionals generally need state and local permits as well as permits through the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to buy the explosives.
Bomb squad technicians worked to render the dynamite sticks safe by soaking them in diesel, according to KTLA.
The team remained on scene as of 4:30 p.m., according to a department spokesperson.
Castillo noted that the sticks of dynamite had the potential to cause severe structural damage and hearing loss if they exploded.
“God forbid, some people could have lost their lives or even be maimed with that amount of dynamite,” he told KTLA.
Last summer, three deputies with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department were killed when a grenade exploded at a training facility near East Los Angeles. The device was one of two that had been removed from the garage of an apartment in Santa Monica after they were discovered by a tenant in July.
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