Crews detonate ‘ancient dynamite’ sticks found in Holladay home

HOLLADAY — Hazmat crews detonated old explosives that were found in a Salt Lake County home early Wednesday morning after evacuating dozens of nearby houses.

Capt. Tony Barker with the Unified Fire Authority said the homeowner of a house near 6200 South and 2300 East called a friend Tuesday afternoon to assist them with “ancient dynamite” a family member handed her.

“It wasn’t anything malicious — just a call to a friend and said, ‘Hey, I don’t know what to do with this stuff and maybe you can come take a look,'” Barker said.

After realizing the amount of dynamite within the home, the two called authorities, which caused the nearby street to be locked down. Around 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, authorities expanded the evacuation area to 1500 feet in all directions.

Two explosions were seen around 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Barker could not give an exact amount of dynamite found within the home, saying there was “a lot” of it and “it’s pretty impressive in scope.”

“The information we received is the dynamite was passed down from generation to generation, so how old it is, we actually do not know,” he said.

When asked where the dynamite was found in the house, such as the basement, garage or shed, Barker said, “Yes. All of it, correct.”

Barker said the home with the explosives will be uninhabitable after the detonations. An evacuation center was set up at Oakwood Elementary School and evacuated residents were allowed to return to their homes around 6 a.m.

Smoke is still billowing …💨💨💨

Dynamite has been found INSIDE a home in Holladay. LOTS of it.

Fire Captain is calling it “ancient” dynamite at that. 🧨🧨🧨

Says it was passed down generation to generation.

Updates on @KSL5TV. pic.twitter.com/oCW8VHDIzJ

— Karah Brackin (@kbontv) April 24, 2024