Bombs Resurface In California -- Old Explosives Found Near Sacramento, And Detonations Are Reminiscent Of 1973

ROSEVILLE, Calif. - Twenty-four years ago, the first of 7,000 bombs bound for the Vietnam War began exploding on a munitions train at a rail yard. The blasts were heard more than 40 miles away.

Nobody died. No one was even seriously injured. But the memory of that April day in 1973 and the 12 hours of explosions that rocked the area near Sacramento remains vivid.

The blasts came so fast and furious that nobody knew whether all the bombs had gone off. It turns out some were driven into the ground by the force of the blast, only to be discovered earlier this month.

Twice in the past two weeks, residents near the rail yard have been evacuated after workers found leftover bombs. Now, residents want an answer to one question: Are there any more bombs there?

"Our song here now is `Home, Home on the Artillery Range,' " said Ed Hinkson, who with his wife, Denise, waited through the pre-dawn darkness Sunday as Army demolition experts detonated a cluster of eight 250-pound bombs less than 500 yards from their home.

Officials decided yesterday to halt construction in a 150-foot-by-1,000-foot zone at the rail yard, which encompasses the area of the 1973 explosions and the sites where bombs were found.

They said the Army Corps of Engineers and Army demolition experts would hunt for bombs, while the sheriff's office reviews photographs and other historical data to pinpoint potential bomb sites.

Union Pacific (UP), which owns the rail yard, said that since the first bomb was found two weeks ago, it has used magnetic imaging technology to scan for more pieces of metal 15 feet underground.

"We certainly don't like to find bombs on our property, then have to go through the misery of disposing of them," said UP Superintendent Carl Bradley.

The explosives are remnants of that cataclysmic day when 21 freight cars carrying military bombs exploded in a chain reaction.

Rail officials said the explosions were caused by a an overheated wheel bearing that set one of the boxcars on fire on the 6,000-foot descent from the Sierra Nevada.

The train had been parked in a huge switching yard for an hour when the first bomb exploded at 8:03 a.m. on April 28, 1973. The blast could be heard and felt 15 miles away in downtown Sacramento. It was followed by an even bigger explosion a few minutes later.

Most of the blasts occurred over the next five hours, but single bombs and groups continued to explode periodically for the next 12 hours, leaving craters up to 40 feet deep.

Earlier this month, Union Pacific construction workers were ripping up old track when they discovered a cigar-shaped hunk of steel about 4 feet long.

"At first, they thought it was a refrigerator," sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jim Cooper said.

But experts identified it as a 250-pound bomb, one of the Mark 81 general-purpose Navy bombs from that 1973 cargo. About 400 people voluntarily left nearby housing developments, and the bomb was moved to an isolated part of the rail yard, buried and detonated.

On Saturday, construction workers found eight more bombs near where the first was discovered.

By then, officials knew the drill. They moved the bombs, buried them and set them off by 3 a.m. Sunday.

Some residents, however, refused to leave.

"The first night, I left and spent the night at a motel," said Robert Verdugo, who lives about a quarter-mile from the blast site. "But the second night, I stayed. We hoped the experts knew what they were doing."