Old Military Ordnance Found At Job Site In Wauwinet Detonated By State Police Bomb Squad

An old military ordnance was uncovered by workers Tuesday at a home in Wauwinet and was later detonated by a Massachusetts State Police bomb squad.

A crew digging a trench for a water line at 9B Crows Nest Way found a "suspicious device" around 1:30 p.m. and alerted a Nantucket Fire Department fire prevention officer who happened to be at the site conducting an unrelated inspection. 

Massachusetts State Police were notified, and the immediate area around the trench was evacuated. The ordnance was later transported to "a secure location" at Proprietors Way - a dirt road leading to the beach between Madaket and Cisco - where it was detonated.

"We were digging a trench for the water line and discovered it," one of the workers at the scene told the Current. "As soon as the police and firefighters showed up, the whole site got locked down and all the workers had to leave right away." 

"We believe that it was a military ordnance that the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team of the Massachusetts State police countercharged and rendered safe," Nantucket Fire Department Chief Michael Cranson told the Current.

The Nantucket Fire Department's deputy chief, along with an engine company and an ambulance, were on standby at the location "to ensure the safety of the public and first responders" while the bomb squad took care of the ordnance.

Numerous unexploded ordnances have been discovered over the years around the old Tom Nevers Navy, which has been designated the "Nantucket Ordnance Site Munitions Response Site" under the management of the Army Corps of Engineers.

"The U.S. Government leased the site between 1943 and 1946 for use as a practice aerial rocket range," the Army Corps states on its web site. "This was one of three ranges on Nantucket used by Navy pilots for training purposes. The site is divided into two MRSs: the Aerial Rocket Range Target #1 and the Aerial Rocket Range Fan.