VERO BEACH — United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians moved two bombs away from oceanfront homes on the barrier island on Monday. The bombs were apparently dropped by aircraft during WWII.
Seven homes were in the potential blast zone near Round Island Park. The area was evacuated while the bombs were shifted.
“There were people home at two of the houses and they cooperated and evacuated with no problems,” said Assistant Fire Chief Brian Burkeen.
Detected in approximately 11 feet of water near the beach by Army Corps of Engineers contractors, the bombs were excavated by Navy divers and lifted with air bags. One bomb weighed approximately 1,000 pounds. The other was approximately 500 pounds.
“The 1,000 (pound) bomb was suspended beneath the float and the float was towed a mile offshore,” said Burkeen, who was coordinating onshore activities from a command post in Round Island Park. “The 500-pound bomb will be towed out tomorrow and the ordinance will be blown up in 30 feet of water by attaching explosives to them and detonating the explosives.”
Burkeen said the county and U.S. military had to undertake a similar operation back in the late 1990s when other bombs were discovered in an earlier sweep of the coast.
