Bomb disposal team detonates car filled with old dynamite

TRAPPER CREEK — Alaska State Troopers evacuated everyone in a 1.25-mile radius Friday afternoon morning in preparation for this morning’s detonation of 550 pounds of 20-year-old explosives.

According to a trooper press statement, troopers went to 3.5 mile of Petersville Road at 3:45 p.m. to talk a property owner who had requested help.

An abandoned station wagon on the property was stuffed with 550 pounds of ammonium nitrate, which troopers say is commonly known as dynamite. The car had been on the property since the mid-90s, troopers report.

Troopers called in a bomb disposal team from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. While they waited, they evacuated the homeowner who’d summoned them and another nearby home to clear a 400-yard radius.

The Elmendorf team recommended widening that radius to 6,600 feet. Troopers teamed with borough responders and the state’s Division of Forestry to evacuate the area.

A shelter staffed by the American Red Cross was set up at Trapper Creek Elementary, just outside the evacuation zone. A trooper helicopter flew overhead to make sure everyone had moved out.

At 2 a.m. the Elmendorf team detonated the station wagon. A neighbor of the homeowner who called in the aging explosives had minor damage to his home, which was the only damage reported.