A World War 2 era flare was discovered on a beach in St. Pete Florida, yesterday, Sunday by a woman who thought it was driftwood. She called the authorities and they determined it was a 4-foot-long, M122 photoflash bomb. That’s quite the story for her family and friends!
This particular munition was used at one time to light up the sky for night-time surveillance missions. The MacDill Air Force Base Explosives Ordinance Disposal Team and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad detonated the flare in the early evening.
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The Tampa Bay Times reported:
About 25 homes were evacuated and 250 beachgoers displaced, but most were in good spirits, amused to be part of such a strange story.
“Nothing ever happens out here. It’s so crazy,” said Katie Hellier, 49, of Pass-a-Grille, who stood on the beach with family.
Best friends Bridgette Treadwell and Courtney Smith, taking a kid-free vacation from the Memphis area, had been hoping for an uninterrupted beach day after a spell of rain. But they had fun with the commotion, sharing a pair of binoculars to get a glimpse of the faraway action.
“Our kids would be getting a kick out of this,” Smith said.
Michael and Denise Taylor, who live in St. Pete Beach, spent the whole day shuffling farther down the sand as authorities kept expanding the cleared area.
Watch the video of the explosion below:
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