Hanscom Air Force Base: Moving Company Speaks On Incident

BEDFORD, MA — The CEO of the moving company whose truck caused an evacuation of Hansom Air Force base Thursday said the company "delivering a military personnel shipment" to the base.

"Big Foot Moving & Storage employees and company personnel complied with all request of state, federal and military authorities managing the inspection and investigation. Our vehicle and personnel have been cleared and we are thankful that the incident has been resolved," Mike Bavuso, president and CEO of Big Foot Moving & Storage, said. "We assure our customers that we take this matter very seriously. The safety of our crew, customers and their goods is of utmost importance to us."

The "suspicious" truck that prompted a partial evacuation and massive law enforcement response to the Air Force base that lasted from about 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Explosive materials experts cleared the truck, but took some pallets that tested positive for explosive residue with them for further testing, the base said.

The truck had been held after a routine inspection detected potentially explosive material. The base, which holds more than 10,000 workers and residents, evacuated roughly a dozen buildings and shut down some entrance gates. The Fusion Center, a terrorism intelligence center, the State Police Bomb Squad, and the ATF responded.

Bedford Police had said there was no danger to the community. The truck was stopped at Gate 1 some time after 9 a.m. A standard screening "revealed indicators of a potentially hazardous material," State Police said.

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Hanscom Air Force Base is located mainly in Bedford and stretches into Concord and Lincoln. It has been in use since being built in 1942. Hanscom's host unit is the 66th Air Base Group. More than 10,000 active duty, Reserve and National Guard military personnel and Department of Defense civilians, and contractors work and live at the base, according to Hanscom's website.

Hanscom lies on 846 acres and has 4.1 million square feet of space. There are 731 privatized homes on the base.

The Hanscom Field airport is adjacent to the base and remained open to civilian use. It is operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority. More than 99 percent of the air traffic at the airport is non-military.

Colin Young of the State House News Service contributed to this report

State Police photo