Projectile event in UT, Grantsville area, United States of America on Mon 2nd December 2024

A community in Grantsville was put on alert Sunday when a live World War II-era artillery shell was discovered on a family’s property.

The discovery was made around 5 p.m. at the property located near 350 W. Peach Street.

“There was a citizen out there that recently passed away. As the family was cleaning up the property, someone came across an artillery shell, a 155 mm artillery shell,” Benjamin Porter, a spokesperson with the Unified Fire Authority, said.

Porter described the shell as large, about two feet long and about 100 lbs. He said when the family discovered it, they were completely caught off guard, having no knowledge of its presence.

“They said that when they found it, that it was just kind of laying in the dirt, maybe a little bit covered up, but it was not buried or hidden. It was just set aside and looked like it had potentially been forgotten about,” Porter said.

After the family called 911, Grantsville police were first on scene to observe the device. As neighbors were asked to shelter in place, UFA’s Bomb Squad Special Operations Division then responded and used a robot to x-ray the device and determined it was still live. Porter said the U.S. Air Force was then called in to collect the shell and dispose of it.

“They did find that it was a relatively low risk, so they let the surrounding homes know,” Porter said.

The agencies involved in removing the artillery shell are now trying to determine how it got to the property and how long it was there. They said they didn’t believe there was any criminal activity involved.

Porter said he’s grateful for how the family responded to finding the device and reminded others to call 911 if they ever come across something similar.

“If you’re to find any kind of unexploded ordnance, whether it’s blasting caps or dynamite or any kind of wartime artillery shells, ammunition, don’t mess with it, don’t touch it, call 911,” Porter said. “Get us started, let us come out, we can check it out and we can handle it if we need to.”