(Rock Springs, Wyo. – June 10, 2017)Â Â Â Â Bomb technicians from the Sweetwater Bomb Squad investigated and rendered safe a number of improvised chemical pressure bombs discovered in Uinta County Friday afternoon, Sweetwater County Sheriff Mike Lowell reported on Saturday.
Lowell said Bomb Squad technicians Corporal Tony Niemiec of the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, Officer Steve VanValkenburg of the Rock Springs Police Department, and Doug Lauze and Deborah Tippy, Green River Police Department, were sent to a location about five miles north of Evanston, where the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office was investigating an abandoned car.
Uinta County deputies determined that an improvised chemical pressure device had been detonated inside the car, and a second, unexploded device was present. Outside the car, several devices had been detonated, and a total of three others, unexploded, were also found.
Lowell said the Bomb Squad was able to destroy all the unexploded pressure bombs safely, and no one was injured.
Improvised chemical pressure bombs are commonly made using flimsy containers like plastic soda bottles. A liquid such as toilet or drain cleaner is poured into the bottle, and other substances are introduced to cause a chemical reaction or phase change; the buildup that results causes the container to explode.
Improvised chemical pressure bombs are extremely dangerous. When, as in this case, toilet cleaner is used, the active ingredient blasted out when the device explodes is hydrochloric acid, which is corrosive to the eyes, skin, and mucous membranes and can cause severe respiratory tract irritation and pulmonary edema.
Experts also point out that ICPBs have an unpredictable nature of detonation; that is, the time that elapses before the device actually explodes once the chemicals are mixed. (In addition, once the chemicals are mixed, the only way to deactivate the mixture is to relieve the pressure.)
Lowell emphasized the best procedure to follow when a suspected ICPB or any other such suspicious item is encountered: “Don’t touch it, don’t attempt to move it, and don’t approach it,” he said. “Put some distance between yourself and the object, then notify authorities.”
The Sweetwater Bomb Squad is comprised of law enforcement officers from the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office and the Rock Springs and Green River Police Departments.
