482nd E.O.D. assists Miami Police

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Lou Burton
  • 482nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. --  So often when life's tragedies occur, it's the little things that consume the loved ones who are left to take care of the deceased's affairs. Arrangements must be made, flowers have to be bought, debts have to be paid and, in one case, explosives had to be dealt with.

Recently when a 62 year-old man passed away his wife had to call the Miami bomb disposal unit because she was unsure of what to do with all of the weapons, explosives, and ammunition he had collected over the years and stored in their shared apartment. The Miami police in turn called Homestead.

"Homestead Air Reserve Base's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team was called because we are the designated agency for disposing of unidentified explosive ordinances," said Master Sgt Derald Ortloff, Senior EOD Program Manager.

"We recovered 126 pieces from the apartment, including grenades, projectiles, smoke screens, flares, and bullets mostly stored in a bedroom closet," said Master Sgt Ortloff. Out of these, 72 of the pieces were active explosives.

"To dispose of the explosives, we take them out to a secure firing range and detonate them," said Master Sgt James Raulerson, EOD Program Manager.

The disposal process is initiated through the local police departments, who in turn contact the bomb squad to determine the possible dangers and if the recovery process is deemed appropriate for the Air Force's involvement, and then Homestead EOD is contacted.

"We cover everywhere south of Palm Beach County and we get at least one call a month. This collection, however, is unusual because typically we get one or two objects but this collection is much larger than normal. It took us over two hours to collect all of the material," said Master Sgt Ortloff.

The explosives were disposed of during unit training on July 11 at Homestead ARB's EOD range.