Authorities neutralize mortar

Marines and the Orange County Bomb Squad neutralized a military-grade mortar round brought into a Huntington Beach Fire Station Tuesday.

A concerned citizen brought in the live mortar round, and it was later deemed potentially dangerous.

“It had four pounds of live explosives in it, and it could have gone off,” said Laurie Payne, a Huntington Beach spokeswoman.

The fire department labeled the device as an 81 mm, dynamite-filled mortar from the World War II era.

The man, whom authorities did not identify, said he got the mortar from an estate sale not knowing what it was, according to Battalion Chief Mark Daggett.

“He was completely unaware of the danger of the device. He was just driving around with it in the back of his truck,” Daggett said.

After buying it, the man said he took the mortar to a Huntington Beach military surplus store, where workers said it might be dangerous.

He brought it to Huntington Beach Fire Station 5891, on Heil Avenue, and firefighters called the Orange County Bomb Squad.

“When the bomb squad saw it, they realized that it was a military-grade explosive and called over to Camp Pendleton,” Daggett said. “They sent over some Marines.”

Huntington Beach police evacuated about 25 neighboring homes along with the fire station and a few local businesses, but the street was reopened at about 3:30 p.m. when the bomb squad drove away with the mortar in a bomb-proof container. It was taken to the Orange County landfill in Irvine to be neutralized.

“If it had gone off there would have been no potential injury to the public because of the evacuations and safety precautions we took, but it would have caused significant property damage,” Daggett said.

Residents had to leave their houses for several hours.

“This has ruined my entire day,” said Julie Ketchum, who was evacuated from her house on Heil Avenue.