SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah, Sept. 19, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) – Residents across the Salt Lake County were shaken and stirred early Thursday afternoon when a series of loud explosions rattled windows and nerves from one end of the Valley to the other.
The source of the blasts was the Tooele Army Depot conducting routine detonations of old and obsolete military munitions, something they’ve been doing at the Tooele County installation since World War II.
When atmospheric conditions are right, the explosions sound like a dull thud; if not, they can sound and feel like something from a modern day battlefield. Such was the case Thursday, when thousands reported hearing and feeling detonations dozens of miles from the blast sites, prompting hundreds of calls to local law enforcement.
The Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center reported 1,300-plus calls in the course of an hour, more than 400 of them made to 911.
“We understand that the sounds and vibrations that were experienced today surprised people and were scary,” the Tooele Army Depot said in a message on social media. “We know that these types of things can be concerning to some people. It’s not something that they experience every day.
“Tooele Army Depot is tasked with destroying the Nation’s old, obsolete, and unsafe munitions. We do that to ensure our Warfighters have the best tools to use when needed.
“The operations we conducted today are something that we do every year and have done since WWII. We are permitted to conduct open detonations from April through October. We only conduct these operations when weather conditions are right to mitigate the sounds and shaking from the detonations. There was no danger to the public from these operations.
“Today’s detonations were propagated further than normal because of the increased moisture in the ground and lack of cloud cover, which amplifies the effects of the detonations.
“We do our best to be good neighbors while also accomplishing our mission,” the TAD statement said.
