SALISBURY TWP., Pa. — Some thought it blasting. Others speculated a train derailment, or perhaps an earthquake.
But between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Thursday, emergency dispatch centers lit up with calls from folks in Lehigh and Northampton counties wondering about two giant booms in the Allentown and Bethlehem areas.
- Callers to local 911 centers reported loud booms Thursday
- Some thought it might be an earthquake or a train derailment
- Instead, it was the Allentown Bomb Squad at work
Social media was abuzz.
The explosions were the work of the Allentown Bomb Squad, which was disposing of 42 pounds of TNT estimated to be 100 years old, discovered in the basement of an Upper Macungie Township home.
The bomb squad detonated the material in a pair of charges — one around 12:30 p.m. and the other around 2 p.m., said Lt. Chad Ege, commander of the Allentown Bomb Squad.
His team recovered the TNT this week after it was discovered by a contractor working at a home in Breinigsville.
"This is the most I've recovered at one time, but it's not uncommon for commercial grade explosives to be recovered throughout this area," Ege said. "It used to be a big mining area here and up north. The amount was a little surprising, but the fact that it was there, nothing really surprises me any more."
Packed in bricks, the explosive compound was in three crates in a corner of the basement, Ege said. It came from the Trojan Powder Co. in Allentown, which operated in the early part of the 20th century.
Ege said the longtime homeowner died and new owners took over.
"New people just bought the home and are renovating it," Ege said. When the new owners found the blocks and took one of them outside to try to read the packaging, they immediately called 911.
The bomb squad detonated the TNT off Constitution Drive in Salisbury Township between Allentown and Bethlehem.
"The amount was a little surprising, but the fact that it was there, nothing really surprises me any more."Lt. Chad Ege, commander of the Allentown Bomb Squad
"Given the severity of the explosives, it was just louder," Ege said. With the clear weather and the amount of explosives, the sound echoed along the Lehigh River.
The bomb squad had to get approval from the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It notified the county emergency operations centers prior to the blasting, he said.
Ege said it took squad members about five hours to remove the explosives from the basement early this week, and another three hours to transport it the few miles to the bomb squad's safe site.
By itself in the basement, Ege said, the TNT didn't pose much of a threat.
"It wasn't," he said, "but the condition was kind of concerning. All of our standards are based off good product, and this was really old. The important thing was getting rid of it as soon as possible. But we weren't really concerned about it detonating."
