Threat dealt with quickly and all clear sent out to residents
The Beaches Community Centre in Victoria Beach held a Rummage Sale last weekend, and when the volunteers were taking in donations, they got an interesting historical artifact mixed in with their donations.
“Every year we have an annual Rummage Sale at Victoria Beach, which is held in the Community Center as well as in the ball diamond that’s adjacent to the Community Center. And for the last few weeks, people were dropping off all their unwanted items, anything from couches to basketball nets, to toys, to books. There’s a group of volunteers that assist with organizing all these items that are dropped off, and they were all setting up. The big sale (was) on the weekend. So, (this past) week, somebody dropped off this modular practice bomb, amongst other things. When the volunteers were going through it, they found this item, and one of the volunteers recognized it as resembling a bomb. So, I think they Googled it, and as soon as it matched to what they were looking at and looked very suspicious, they called me,” said Victoria Beach’s Chief of Police, Mike MacKinnon.
Though surprised, MacKinnon took the call very seriously and went over to see what had been discovered.
“Everybody was still working hard getting the rummage sale ready, and when I looked at it, that’s when I immediately evacuated everybody from the area and had them move their vehicles. You never know with things like this. I’ve been a police officer for the City of Winnipeg for 27 years. So, I’ve dealt with bomb incidents before, and right away, the first thing we do is evacuate the area, and then we assess what we ought to do and call in the experts to then dispose of it,” he explained.
At this point, MacKinnon did not know what type of device he was looking at, so he called in the people who would have that specialized knowledge.
“I’m not a bomb expert, so I didn’t know whether it was practice or real or what it was. So, once I evacuated the area. I taped off the area as well, and I made some phone calls. I was able to reach the RCMP Division Bomb Unit, sent them pictures, and they definitely thought it was a warhead of some type, but they don’t deal with that either,” said MacKinnon.
The Canadian Armed Forces(CAF) were called, as military ordinance is their responsibility, and their bomb disposal unit came by. At the same time, MacKinnon issued a notice to the community to stay away from the area.
“I was able to get in touch with them. I, again, sent them pictures, and within two (to) three hours, they were at my location. They arrived. There were three bomb technicians, we’ll call them, and they had all the equipment. They actually set up an X-ray device to x-ray the bomb to see if there was anything in it of concern, and determine, what exactly it was,” said MacKinnon.
From there, they were able to determine that the bomb was quite old and was a modular practice bomb from around the Second World War.
“It’s designed to replicate the weight and handling characteristics of real bombs without containing the explosives. So, these practice bombs allowed air crews to simulate bombing runs for training purposes without the risk associated with live ammunition. Once they drop it, upon impact, it explodes with white smoke. That’s the training practice that they had back then,” he said.
Once the CAF members determined that the bomb was likely not a threat, they then safely removed it.
After the modular practice bomb was removed, MacKinnon was able to send out a public advisory stating that everything was now safe to the community, and volunteers were able to come back to continue setting up for the rummage sale.
Though it’s not likely that items like this will be found, MacKinnon also wanted to share some tips about what people should do if they think they may have discovered any type of explosive device.
“I’ve been passing this message on since this incident, because you never know. Out in Victoria Beach, there are some cabins that have been here forever, and you never know what people have hidden in an attic or in the basement. And so, if you find a suspicious item, number one, do not touch, move, or handle the item. Leave it exactly where you found it. Do not use cell phones around it or radios, because, if it is a bomb, it could be an electronic signal that could trigger it to explode. Leave it and leave the area right away. Call 911, and report exactly what you found. Make sure you’re far back at a far distance, sometimes even a few hundred yards is probably the best and the safest practice, because you never know,” he explained.
MacKinnon said that, like in this instance, residents shouldn’t go near an area with a suspected bomb until it’s been cleared by experts, even after reporting it to the police.
He also wants to reassure residents that everything with regards to this incident has been dealt with and that it is now safe.
“Everything was handled well. Everyone was cooperative and took everything seriously. The item was dealt with by the experts. It was about a four-hour incident, and once it was all done, a public advisory went out letting everyone know that they could get back to getting the rummage sale ready,” he said.
