Empty tank round shipping canister triggers road closures, evacuations

A package marked "explosive" found near a gasoline storage tank at the Sunset C Sinclair Station on Highway 30 triggered a Wednesday morning closure of the highway and nearby streets and a limited evacuation of nearby businesses that lasted more than two hours.

The incident began shortly after 10 a.m. when a fuel shipper was making a delivery to the above-ground gas tanks near the service station. He noticed a package that had the word "explosive" printed on it, located near the fuel tanks.

"He did the right thing and immediately contacted authorities," Mountain Home Fire Chief Alan Bermensolo said.

The device appears to have been deliberately placed in an inconspicuous area said, Sgt. Rick Viola of the Mountain Home Police Department. "There's a retainer wall there in case the tank erupts. It was propped up near where fuel goes into tanks. The average person wouldn't have seen it," Viola said. "It had to have been deliberately placed."

With city police, city fire crews, COPs volunteers and county deputies responding to the initial report, the area was quickly cordoned off and the service station, nearby Farmer's Insurance office and Bob's Carpets were evacuated as a precaution.

Procedures for calling in the Mountain Home Air Force Base Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit were initiated. In addition, the bomb squad from the Boise Police Department responded with one of its teams and a robot, which was used to investigate the device, Mayor Tom Rist said.

Once the EOD and bomb squad teams arrived they began a careful process for evaluating the potential threat.

Shortly after 12:30 a.m. the EOD and bomb squad members determined that the suspicious object was an empty shipping canister for a 120mm M-1 tank main gun round.

The closure area was quickly lifted with traffic resuming normally around 12:40 p.m.

During the incident, eastbound interstate traffic was diverted from Exit 90 to Exit 95 to avoid it entering Highway 30.

In Mountain Home, the area between Highway 30 and Bob's Carpet was closed to all traffic and on Highway 30, local traffic was diverted at E. 12th North Street on the north side of the incident and at E. 8th North Street to the south of the incident.

In Mountain Home, the area between Highway 30 and Bob's Carpet was closed to all traffic and, on Highway 30 itself, local traffic was diverted at E. 12th North Street on the north side of the incident and at E. 8th North Street to the south of the incident.

"The question is why and how this was done," Viola said. "Right now, we can't answer that." But, Viola added, it is possible whoever placed the device could face criminal charges.

Additional details were not immediately available as the investigation into the origin of the device and the intent behind its placement is continuing.

Rist said ten different agencies were notified of the potential threat and eight agencies actively responded. He estimated the total cost to the taxpayers to deal with the incident "would be somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000."