Wisconsin students watch police respond to bomb scare

University of Wisconsin students watched as Madison police cleared an area near a power plant so that a Dane County bomb squad unit could detonate a suspicious device with the help of a bomb-handling robot.

MADISON, Wisconsin (Badger Herald) August 29, 2010 -- Students and police gathered near the University of Wisconsin power plant at Spring and Charter Streets in Madison, August 27 to witness the detonation of a suspicious device.

Madison police officers responded to a call of a suspicious package at around 5 p.m., eventually dispatching a Dane County bomb squad unit to detonate the package.

Area residents were cleared to an area across the street with a clear view of the process. The bomb squad detonated the suspicious device with the assistance of a bomb-handling robot at approximately 6:45 p.m.

A Madison Police Department sergeant said the device, which resembled a pipe, did not contain explosives.

Police arrived at the scene after a 911 call from a Madison-area resident. She said her van was broken into the previous evening and she later discovered the suspicious pipe, which she believed could have been a homemade bomb.

A University of Wisconsin Police Department (UWPD) sergeant said personnel at the scene determined the threat was contained to the block of Charter Street between Dayton and Spring streets, causing UWPD to decide against sending out a WiscAlerts message.

Link: http://badgerherald.com/news/2010/08/27/bomb_threat_near_pow.php

Source: DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report