TURNERS FALLS, Mass. (WWLP) – A Montague town official discovered a suspicious device Thursday, leading to evacuations.
The Montague building inspector was in a vacant house when he found what ended up being a “replica” of an explosive device. Montague Building inspector, Christopher Rice alerted the Turners Falls Fire Department, who then called in the bomb squad.
The fire department closed off Turnpike Road and told neighbors to leave their houses. According to Turners Falls Fire Chief John Zellmann, the bomb squad determined that there was no threat.
“Bomb Squad came out, took a look at it, found out it was a very detailed hoax device so as you can see in the picture it looked pretty real,” Chief Zellmann told 22News.
Inspector Rice said the home has been vacant since the resident died three or four weeks ago. He said there may have been a hoarding situation. Rice told 22News he believes the device had been there for years because there were cob-webs on it.
Turnpike Road reopened just after 11:30 a.m. Thursday morning and all the neighbors were allowed to return home.
