Police chief breaks down response to discovery of dynamite at Knoxville business
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — After dynamite was discovered at a Knoxville business , several area departments came together to find the best way to make sure the explosives a neutralized while keeping people safe. Knoxville Police Chief Paul Noel spoke with 6 News about how that response came together.
At around 2:15 p.m. on October 10, Knoxville Police Department and KFD responded to CMC Recycling at 2706 Mynderse Avenue after employees discovered a "5×5 steel box" that was "actively emitting smoke." As a result, an evacuation was strongly urged for people within an approximately 3,000-foot radius of the area and a public safety message was sent through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning.
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"It was tremendously scary for us. If that dynamite would have gone off with those blasting caps in, it would have devastated that area," Noel said. "So we obviously were very concerned for the people who lived in that community. We're very concerned for our police officers. I'm very proud of the men and women of law enforcement who responded to help evacuate that area so quickly."
Noel explained that neutralizing the box was a long and meticulous process. First, they had to wait for fire on the box to go out. He explained that the box was smoldering after the company attempted to open it with a blowtorch, unaware of its contents.
Once the fire was out, KPD's bomb squad along with the squads from Knox County and Nashville went about removing the dynamite and incinerating it. At first, they planned to use robotics to pull the explosives out, however, due to the high number of blast caps in the box, the bomb squad technicians had to remove it by hand.
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Many of the people who evacuated during this situation were at the Jacob Building where a temporary shelter was set up. Noel said he was able to speak with some of the people there.
"Once they understood the gravity of the situation, they were very, very appreciative of not only of our efforts to get them out safely, but they were saying prayers as well for our police officers from Knox County and Nashville and Knoxville to make sure they were safe when they were moving to dynamite by hand," said Noel.
He went on to say while KPD has a highly professional bomb squad, the hope this is a once-in-a-lifetime event.
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"The EOD disposal community here in East Tennessee, we work together to prepare for these events. But this is one of these things where hopefully this is a once-in-a-lifetime type incident," said Noel. "I am very confident that the men and women of the Knoxville Police Department and our community partners and our law enforcement partners were able to effectively respond to anything that comes our way."
The dynamite was successfully disposed of on Friday night, just after 10 p.m. Noel shared that his first thoughts following the all-clear were, "Oh, thank God."
