Artillery round creates scare

Item in Burbank attic triggers evacuations but had no 'high explosives in it.'

October 03, 2010|By Bill Kisliuk

Several Burbank homes were evacuated Saturday as bomb squad members investigated an old artillery round that residents discovered in the 1100 block of Rose Street.

Gus and Lorena Quiroga found the heavy, triangular metal object in a box in their attic.

“It was a metal item that looked like it was from the military, with a bunch of numbers on the side,” Lorena Quiroga said. “We didn't know what it was or what to do with it. We didn't want to put it in the trash can.”

Gus Quiroga called a surplus store to describe the object, and was advised to call the Burbank police right away, according to Lorena Quiroga. They later learned from a neighbor that the prior resident had a relative who collected military items.

The Quirogas called police about 4 p.m. Police evacuated neighbors surrounding the Quiroga home. The county bomb squad came in to investigate the item.

It was a 105-mm artillery round, according to Sgt. Joe Guarino of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.

“It didn't appear to be live,” he said. “It had no high explosives in it. Basically, it was a souvenir.”

It took bomb squad members about 45 minutes to determine the round was not dangerous and haul it away.

Quiroga said she and neighbors were out of their homes for several hours while police and sheriff's deputies wrapped up the work.

“After it was all said and done, the sergeant told us it was not uncommon to find things like that,” Quiroga said.

When she and her husband bought the home six years ago, “it was a real fixer-upper,” she said, with books, records, boxes of magazines and antique furniture they had agreed to dispose of as part of the purchase. She said there are still a few boxes of material to go through.

Bomb squad members searched the rest of the material in the house and determined no explosives remain.

“I felt scared,” Quiroga said. “I've never seen anything like it.”

Get in touch

BILL KISLIUK covers business and politics. He may be reached at (818) 637-3238 or by e-mail at bill.kisliuk@latimes.com.

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