This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Carbon County sheriff's detectives are trying to determine the origins of a live hand grenade that was detonated by a bomb squad after being found in rock pile near the town of Helper.
On Wednesday, deputies were dispatched to the Castle Country RV dealership, at 4732 North and U.S. 6, where the grenade has been spotted atop the load of rock.
Investigators believe the rock had been recently delivered from somewhere in Utah County, but had not narrowed down its origins further.
"It was a live grenade, [but we are] not sure where it came from," Sheriff Jeff Wood said on Friday. "It appears to have been in the ground for many years."
The sheriff's office secured the scene and called in a Utah Bomb Squad unit. Two robots were used to pluck the grenade from the rocks and transport it to an 8-foot-deep hole prepared by Carbon County Road Department workers.
The grenade was then safely detonated, raising a pillar of smoke and bright orange flame 20 feet above from the pit.
A video clip of the detonation can be viewed here.
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