Dynamite discovered in Calgary home on same day bomb unit also called to Weaselhead Flats

Multiple sticks of dynamite were found in a Calgary residence on Saturday.

The Calgary Police Service (CPS) responded to a call at 12:10 p.m. in the 1000 block of Woodview Crescent S.W. in the city's Woodlands neighbourhood, after a resident, while cleaning their home, found a metal box holding the dynamite.

CPS called for the surrounding homes to evacuate as a precaution until the box could be safely contained by its bomb unit. Woodview Crescent was also closed to traffic.

Following the removal and disposal of the explosives by a tactical unit, police said that a road closure was lifted and evacuees were able to return home.

The dynamite was the second call police received on Saturday about a suspected explosive discovered in southwest Calgary.

Police received a call about a possible explosive in Weaselhead Flats Natural Environment Park, just southwest of the city, at 11:30 a.m., earlier the same day. Someone walking through the park dug up the explosive after their metal detector went off, before backing off and keeping other park visitors away, and calling police.

Police said they suspect the device may be left over from when the area was used for military artillery training decades ago. CPS have cordoned off the area until the bomb unit can safely contain the device.

Later on Saturday afternoon, police said the tactical unit advised the device is inert and just a casing. The casing was removed, and the area is no longer blocked off to visitors.

There is some precedent to finding explosives in Weaselhead Flats. The park closed for six months in 2013, after flooding in June of that year unearthed undetonated explosives.