SEATTLE — Tacoma police plan to evacuate a 1,800-foot swath around a 50-pound case of unstable dynamite found in a railroad car yesterday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. The dynamite, which is at least 10 years old, isn’t believed to pose an immediate danger, police spokesman Jim Mattheis said.
The railroad car is in the 2000 block of Marine View Drive. Police say the area around the car will be evacuated from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. today as diesel fuel is sprayed over the dynamite to neutralize it.
The area will be evacuated tomorrow for an unknown amount of time so explosives experts can use a cable or rope to move the dynamite to a pit to burn it, Mattheis said. He wasn’t sure how many people would have to be evacuated.