Deputies Detonate Buried Artillery Shell In South Hill

SOUTH HILL, WA — South Hill residents may have heard a loud explosion Tuesday night, but deputies say it's nothing to worry about, just an exploding artillery shell.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department reports that someone found an artillery shell that was still active, but had been buried in a back yard in an attempt to make it safe. Deputies say it appeared the shell had been buried for at leas 30 years, but it had no serial numbers or other identifiers to tell them where it came from and when it was made.

After learning about the shell, deputies called their bomb squad and assistance from JBLM to set off controlled explosion, detonating the shell and rendering it safe forever. To detonate the shell, Pierce County Public Works first dug a large hole on the property, then the bomb squad moved the shell into the hole and covered it with sand. The shell was then set off underground and the remaining pit was filled in.

Around 9:35 p.m. the bomb squad set the shell off. Deputies say the explosion was loud enough that they estimate it could be heard from the 14400 block of Meridian all the way to 122nd Avenue East.

The detonation went exactly as planned and no one was harmed. Investigators say they can't be sure how the shell ended up in the yard, but based on the damage it appeared the shell had been fired, but hadn't exploded.