Suspected pipe bomb found on power pole near Turlock

TURLOCK -- The Merced County Sheriff’s bomb squad is using robots to remove a suspected pipe bomb from a Turlock Irrigation District power pole on Cortez Avenue just west of Santa Fe Drive in Turlock.

The bomb squad arrived at the scene around 3:20 p.m., sheriff’s spokesman Tom MacKenzie said.

The department received the initial report of the bomb just after 1 p.m. Friday when a irrigation district employee reported a four-inch pipe bomb attached to a pole above the manual shut-off switch.

The suspected explosive has a detonation device similar to the clip of a hand grenade, MacKenzie said.

No one is in immediate danger, he said.

This story was originally published April 24, 2009 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Suspected pipe bomb found on power pole near Turlock."