Looking at the bomb squad technology

With warmer temperatures coming to the area, spring cleaning efforts take off. And some times in those cleaning efforts, folks find old dynamite or other explosives buried under junk in the back of the barn. The Idaho Falls Regional Bomb Squad has been around since 2007 and is federally accredited to handle just such discoveries.

They average between 25 and 35 calls a year. That’s because they are trained to handle all types of explosives.

“Bomb squad- they think of terrorist activities, and even though our bomb technicians are trained to deal with those incidents too, such as improvised explosive devices or electric circuits and things of that nature. Weapons of mass destruction,”said the bomb squad’s commander, John Marley. “They’re also trained to deal with what we deal with most of the time, and that’s the mining explosives, the dynamite, any explosive hazard in the region.”

The squad uses all types of equipment to handle explosives like bomb suits, X-ray machines to look into suspicious bags or packages and even robots so they can monitor a situation from a remote location.