South Bay : WIPEOUT
Sheriff’s deputies used a remote-controlled robot to detonate a suspected pipe bomb in a Carson flood control channel Wednesday, authorities said.
Judging from the size of the 11 a.m. blast in the concrete-lined Dominguez Channel, bomb experts determined the device did not appear to contain explosives, said Lt. Ron Herpst with the Carson sheriff’s station.
Workers had called sheriff’s deputies about an hour earlier to report spotting a section of plastic piping capped at both ends, lying in the channel between Main and Figueroa streets.
“Not wanting to take any chances, our arson-explosives team went down there and used the robot to blow it up,” Herpst said.
The tank-wheeled device fitted the piping with an explosive charge and retreated before it was detonated. No evacuations were necessary. “This was kind of an ideal situation because there were huge concrete walls on both side of the channel,” Herpst said.
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