Students of Palisade High School were filled with confusion when phones went off unexpectedly, encapsulating the rooms with a loud, piercing alert. Students frantically checked their phones to see what this disturbance was, just to find it was nothing other than an Amber Alert. However, it wasn’t your typical Amber Alert. The alert warned that a planned controlled explosion was scheduled to take place in the area. This initially worried Palisade freshman Ryan Nepoleon. She stated, “It was scary because they gave no information about it, in regard to where it was happening, when, and why.” Napoleon was in her academic mentor class when this all took place. She claimed, “Everyone’s phones went off at the same time and we just stood there and froze.” The lack of information in the alert had people curious, and with a little bit of investigation, they soon found out that the explosion was harmless.
On August 26, the Grand Junction Police Department got a surprising call from a Grand Junction resident, stating they had found a large amount of dynamite and numerous blasting caps in their home. The Bomb Squad was called and arrived at the residence, and after further investigation, the explosives were estimated to be “over 50 years old”. The dynamite could not able to be transferred for disposal, but the blasting caps were safely removed and disposed of. The Bomb Squad decided that the only way for the dynamite to be safely disposed of was on the property. That’s when the alert was sent to Grand Junction residents. The GJPD states that the alert was supposed to be sent to isolated areas, but due to a failure in the system, it was shared county-wide. Officers verify no one was harmed during the time of the explosion. To read more about the explosion, visit KKCO11News.com
