World War II Grenades Found in San Jose Home

Grenades were detonated in front yard

The Santa Clara County bomb team was called to a house in unincorporated San Jose near the Campbell border Thursday after someone cleaning out a home discovered a cache of grenades.

Investigators on the scene said two boxes containing World War II-era grenades were found.

The grenades were safely detonated about three hours after the bomb squad arrived.

The home is near the intersection of Esther and Chelsea drives.

A man who lived there recently died and the grenades were discovered as people were clearing out the house.

Work crews set up a circle of sandbags that stood about 3-foot tall outside the home in preparation for the detonation.

The street outside the home was shut down, gas was shut off to the home where the bombs were found, and surrounding homes were evacuated while crews evaluated the situation.

Sheriff's Deputy Kurtis Stenderup said the evacuations were made based on bomb experts' estimate of the size of a potential "blast radius."

In the end no one was hurt.

A command post was set up nearby that included personnel from the Santa Clara County Fire Department and other emergency responders, Stenderup said.

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