Huntington Beach : Firefighters Retreat in Fake Bomb Scare

Firefighters mopping up after a blaze in an apartment made a hasty exit Tuesday evening when they sighted what appeared to be a bomb resting on a coffee table.

A police bomb squad was called to the scene in the 200 block of 17th Street to detonate the device, which turned out to be a fake that neighbors had said the owner kept around as a joke, according to authorities. Nonetheless, it caused a few anxious moments.

“The fireman was on the nozzle in front of me, and he tried to climb right through me” after sighting the phony bomb, Fire Capt. Mick Terich said. The device, he said, resembled six road flares wrapped in wires and a timing device.

In another twist, a hysterical woman burst past fire lines in the apparent mistaken belief that her own apartment was ablaze, officials said. Tackled by several firefighters, she bit one on the hand so severely that he was taken for treatment at a local hospital. The unidentified woman was released when the firefighter declined to press criminal charges, officials said.

The fire caused an estimated $165,000 damage, and its cause remains under investigation.