Vintage mortar shell prompts evacuations
Two dozen homes and a medical building were evacuated for about four hours Friday after a man dropped off an unexploded mortar shell at an adjacent Huntington Beach fire station, authorities said.
About 10:30 a.m., the man dropped off the World War II-era 81-millimeter mortar round -- still in its original box -- at the fire station at the intersection of Heil Avenue and Springdale Street. A Huntington Beach Fire Department official said the man had apparently picked up the ordnance at an estate sale.
“It appears the gentleman was going to try and sell the mortar round to a gun shop,” said Martha Werth, a Fire Department spokeswoman. “When they wouldn’t take it, he went to the fire station.”
After the bomb squad determined that the explosive was live, Camp Pendleton was called. Shortly before 3 p.m., two Marines took the explosive to county open space in the Irvine area and detonated the shell, which officials said was the equivalent of 4 pounds of dynamite.
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