South FL Air Reserve Base Evacuated After Bomb Fell Off F-16 Fighter Jet On Ground: Report

Updated: 10:55 p.m., Wednesday

HOMESTEAD, FL — A 500-pound bomb fell from an F-16 fighter jet while it was still on the ground Wednesday night, causing the evacuation of Homestead Air Reserve Base, the Miami Herald reported.

The bomb rolled into an area near storage of additional 500-pound explosives, reports said.

HARB, located at 29050 Coral Sea Blvd., initially tweeted around 7:45 p.m. that personnel were evacuated “due to an ongoing incident.”

Just before 10 p.m., the base tweeted that the incident involved “a damaged ordinance [sic.]” (Ordnance means ammunition or artillery, while an ordinance is a local law.)

“Once the damaged ordinance (sic) was repaired, the all-clear was given. No one was injured in the incident,” HARB tweeted.

Additional information about the incident will be provided as it’s made available, the base added.

During the incident, officials asked people to avoid the area of SW 137th Avenue to Waterstone Boulevard from 288th Street to 312th Street. Residents in the area were also asked to remain in their homes. As of 10:50 p.m. Wednesday, HARB didn’t share whether roads had reopened in the area.

Miami-Dade police assisted the Air Force base with traffic control in the area.

The base got its start as Homestead Airfield, a U.S. Army Air Forces facility, in 1941, according to MilitaryBases.us. It returned to civilian control after the end of World War II, and then reopened as Homestead Air Force Base in 1953.

After Hurricane Andrew nearly destroyed it in 1992, it closed for two years, when it reopened as an Air Force Reserve facility in 1994.

The base is maintained and operated by the 482nd Fighter Wing, an Air Force Reserve Command, which has about 1,600 members and 325 full-time civilians. Of the members, more than 1,200 are reservists, 260 of them full time, MilitaryBases.us said.