WKRN, Nashville, Tennessee News, Weather, and Sports |Homemade explosives found near Old Hickory Dam

Homemade explosives found near Old Hickory Dam

Police are investigating after explosive devices were found near Old Hickory Dam in Hendersonville.

Officers doing a routine security check in the Rockland recreation area off Old Hickory Lake found the explosives at about 4 a.m. Monday.

The explosives are homemade, leaving local and state authorities now searching for who made them.

"This may have been a few kids horsing around with homemade explosive devices, but because it happened on federal property, just a few hundred yards from Old Hickory Dam, local, state and federal authorities are treating it very seriously," said Robert Galoppi with the Hendersonville Fire Department.

Police found the explosives in the parking lot for the archery range.

While two had been detonated a third was alive, and appeared to be recently built.

"Being that they're homemade, these are not commercial made, these are not military type explosives. This is something that somebody went shopping for, bought the ingredients and put it together themselves," said Galoppi.

While Galoppi said that likely rules out any terrorist threat, the situation is still being taken seriously in part because of their close proximity to Old Hickory Dam.

"The homemade stuff is definitely more dangerous.  We're looking at this as experimental homemade devices and with any type of experimental devices you run the risk of people graduating to get bigger or better," said Galoppi.  "With untrained people building these devices it generally leads to some sort of tragedy."

Investigators carefully gathered up the evidence and transported it all to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for analysis.

Detonating explosives on federal property is a felony and those responsible may face state and federal charges.