WESTFIELD – Allen Avenue residents were startled Sunday when a “bottle bomb”, apparently tossed into their yard by passing youths, exploded and on Thursday St. Paul Street residents also noticed when three similar bombs were detonated in their neighborhood.
City police report that a resident called Friday morning to report finding the remnants of a bottle bomb on her porch and, when Officer John Barnachez responded to investigate, he found that two neighbors each reported finding the remains of such devices on their property.
Det. Anthony Tsatsos responded to assist and as did State Trooper Michael Mazza of the state fire marshal’s office and Trooper Michael Rigowski of the State Police bomb squad.
Mazza has said that such homemade bombs are examples of a “chemical reaction bomb” which can be assembled in a plastic soda bottle using household items and can be very dangerous.
The bombs use household chemicals which, when combined, release a great deal of gas which bursts from whatever container is used, frequently a plastic soda bottle, with explosive force.
The explosion, Mazza said, can result is serious injury or even death.
The household chemicals placed in the bottles may be combined if a device is thrown and lands or when a booby-trapped bottle is picked up by a well-meaning person removing litter.
Residents are therefore urged to be careful if they come upon a discarded bottle with a top on it. Mazza said that a bottle with contents which do not visually match the bottle’s label or show any signs of bulging should be considered suspicious and treated with caution.
Mazza urges residents to call police “if they even suspect” that a discarded bottle might be dangerous.
He said the bombs “pose a tremendous risk” to a person who finds and disturbs one and said they are also dangerous to a person making one since they and are “totally unpredictable” and can explode unexpectedly.
The three bombs found to have exploded on St. Paul Street apparently did so without injury to persons or property.
The original caller reports finding the remains on her porch and Barnachez said that while he was investigating that incident a neighbor brought the remains of another bomb she said had been found near her house. A second neighbor then approached and showed the officer where a similar bomb had exploded on his property.
Two of the residents said that three loud booms were heard about 6:30 p.m. on Thursday while one said that the noises were heard about 10 p.m.
Mazza said that the remnants of all three devices were submitted to the state police lab for analysis and the investigation is continuing.
He said that he has not discounted the possibility of a connection between the recent explosions and the one on Allen Avenue but said “We’re looking at that from an open viewpoint.”
He said that the fire marshal’s office and the bomb squad take the devices very seriously and don’t “mess around” with the homemade bombs
“The potential danger to a person is great”, he said
Anyone with information about the bombs or those making them is asked to call the Westfield Police Detective Bureau at 572-6400.
