Several agencies responded to a smoking box at a Knoxville recycling center believed to contain dynamite, KPD said.
By Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Kelly Ann Krueger
Published: Oct. 10, 2024 at 2:47 PM EDT|Updated: 30 minutes ago
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Friday marked the second calendar day that crews with the Knoxville Police Department and Knoxville Fire Department spent on-scene of what KPD thinks is a 5-foot-by-5-foot box of dynamite.
The situation
It all began around 2:15 p.m. Thursday, when employees at CMC Recycling, located at 2706 Mynderse Ave. off of Western Avenue, called 911 after finding the box, which was at the time smoking. The employees said there were around 200 sticks inside. This, according to KPD Communications Manager Scott Erland.
The response came with an evacuation notice. Thousands of people in Knox County received the alert Thursday afternoon, asking people to leave a 3,000 foot — around half a mile — radius of the recycling center.
Thursday afternoon also brought several news conferences from Erland, KFD Assistant Chief Mark Wilbanks and even Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon, all of whom were on the scene.
“We’re going to take it slow and cautiously," Erland said, adding that the response was likely to be a “prolonged event.” The department spokesperson also said the KPD bomb squad was responding, outlining their response.
Erland said Thursday afternoon the squad had flown a drone towards the box, prompting the department to believe that it contained several sticks of dynamite.
The latest updates
Erland, Wilbanks and Kincannon also gave an update Friday morning.
“We don’t know what else is in the box that could create a different situation," Erland said Friday, explaining why the response had been taking so long. “If the bomb squad goes in, it could disrupt the situation and cause it to detonate.”
The KPD spokesperson also said that there’s “no indication the box was placed maliciously,” something he reiterated from many of Thursday’s conferences. He further explained the box’s origins Friday morning.
“They believe that the box has been on their property for several days,” he said, referring to CMC’s facility. The company purchases scrap steel to recycle into other products, like rebar.
Erland also said investigators gathered that CMC employees used a torch to open the box, not knowing what had been left inside. Once the box started smoking and they realized what was inside, Erland said, they called 911.
In another update early Friday afternoon, Erland said that technicians had been able to use robot technology, with the help of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Metro Nashville Police Department, to get a sample of the box’s contents.
“We’re relying heavily on the robot technology to go in there," Erland said. “The concern is not the smoldering, but the potentially unstable nature of the material.”
Those samples were then analyzed, he said, and tested positive for ammonium nitrate, which is consistent with dynamite.
Going forward, Erland said, responders plan to test a disposal method on a sample. For dynamite, crews douse the contents in deiseal fuel and light it, causing the dynamite to combust in a controlled way.
“In this case, the dynamite will be disposed of as it burns,” Wilbanks said during the same briefing. “The plan is to burn stick-by-stick. They’ll have some environment concerns on the ground after, but that’s easy to clean up."
Evacuations
So far, Wilbanks said, between 1,000 and 2,000 people have been evacuated. Thursday, crews were working with the Red Cross, AMR and Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) to get people out of the area. Those without a place to go were taken to the Jacob Building at Chilhowee Park.
Mayor Kincannon said Friday morning that 35 people had spent the night at the Jacob Building, adding that the city has and will continue to drive an armored car through the affected neighborhood. That car is rigged to play English and Spanish audio explaining the situation and prompting people to leave, she said.
Those still in need of evacuation who need help getting out are being asked to call 865-215-4010.
How long could this last?
All the officials on the scene have said they expect the response to last at least until Friday night. This, because KPD’s bomb squad has to act extremely carefully.
“Could it explode? Yes, that’s why we’re taking these precautions," Wilbanks said Friday. “We believe it to be unstable, so we’re taking these precautions.”
Wilbanks also said he hopes the box is taken care of sometime Friday.
“Ideally this comes to an end today, and everybody gets to open Monday like they do,” he said, referring to businesses and churches inside the evacuation zone.
Responders expect another briefing sometime after 4 p.m. WVLT News will carry it live here.
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