Dynamite suspicion in Tomah identified as fireworks | Crime and courts | Today Headlines

An incident Monday in Tomah involving suspected dynamite near the Amtrak station turned out to be fireworks instead.

According to the Tomah Police Department, officers were called to Washington Street around 10 a.m. after receiving reports that someone was in possession of dynamite. There were no threats related to the report, but police blocked the streets around the Amtrak station for nearly six hours and attempted to locate the owner of the vehicle where the explosives were believed to be stored.

Tomah Police summoned a Dane County Explosives Detection Unit, which secured the suspicious items from the vehicle. They were flown back to Dane County, where technicians identified them as “overhead fireworks”.

Deputy Police Chief Eric Pedersen said the department posted photos of the explosives online “so that our community understands why it wasn’t obvious to us, or to the experts, what they were and why we reacted with such caution”.

No charges were filed, but Pedersen said the case was being discussed with the Monroe County prosecutor.