An explosive device discovered in an Ontario, Canada, self-storage unit on Oct. 13, turned out to be “hoax” bomb. Police were called to Ontario Car Wash and Mini-Warehouse at 2175 Stumbo Road around 5:40 p.m. after the manager and a friend who were cleaning an abandoned unit came across several bound sticks of dynamite with a pager attached to them, according to the source.

"We didn't know what to do. We didn't want to throw it in the garbage, so we just called [police] to figure out how to dispose of it," manager Steve Bulakovski told the source. The unit had been empty for about three years, and most of the stuff was “junk,” Bulakovski said. The pair rolled the device out of the unit and called police.

The Ontario Police Department and Ashland County Bomb Squad arrived at the facility about 7 p.m. and closed off a portion of Stumbo Road during their investigation in case the device was detonated remotely. Police flew a drone over the device first, then an officer in a bomb suit inspected it. X-rays were taken, but it was still unclear if the bomb was real. However, because the device was found in a storage unit and the wiring coming from it was disconnected, police believed it’d be safe to disassemble, the source reported. Two officers in bomb suits dismantled it around 8 p.m.

Police then contacted the unit’s former tenant, who confirmed it was a “hoax” device used as a training aid for the man's occupation. Ontario Police Chief Rodney Smith declined to elaborate on the man's job or why he stored the device in the unit.

Ontario Car Wash and Mini-Warehouse is a family-owned and -operated business that offers carwash services, car detailing and self-storage.

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