A Buffalo man who recently acquired some items from a local estate sale found an additional item in the box, an item which led fire, police and bomb squad officials to his home on the 200 block of Hoyt Street Monday morning.
The neighbor, who asked that his name be withheld, told WBFO that he purchased various parts for model airplanes from the estate sale but, upon removing items from a box, found a cylinder with a wick attached.
"I called 911 and they came. They told me it was a test device but it could have exploded," said the resident.
The device was identified as a mortar training device from the Vietnam War era. It involves pulling the cord and throwing the cylinder which then whistles to simulate an incoming mortal shell, then explodes.
Police briefly closed the 200 block of Hoyt to traffic but reopened that stretch of road around the noon hour. No one was harmed.
The investigation continues.
"Often in estate sales you just grab whatever's in the house and try to liquidate it. We're not sure they (the sellers) knew what it was themselves," said Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield. "We do have the address of where it was purchased from. The Erie County Sheriff's Department will be following up, to make sure that property and that house is safe."
