ATF Confirms Origins of Box of Dynamite that Prompted Knoxville Evacuation

It happened in October, when employees at CMC Recycling opened a steel box, only to find hundreds of sticks of dynamite and blast caps. (Courtesy: Knoxville Police Department)

ATF Confirms Origins of Box of Dynamite that Prompted Knoxville Evacuation

Posted on January 6, 2025

Knoxville, TN (WOKI) New details are emerging in a dynamite scare that prompted an hours-long emergency response back in October in Knoxville.

Roughly 200 sticks of dynamite were found in a box at CMC Recycling on Western Avenue. Those explosives forced several homes and businesses near the plant to evacuate for over a day.

ATF officials tracing the source of that dynamite to an excavating company which left the explosives sealed up on a property for years.

The owner of the excavating company, who is now retired, thought he’d removed all explosives from the property.

The box was sold to a recycling company in Kingsport that sold it go CMC Recycling in Knoxville.

ATF officials say it amounts to a mistake, and no charges will be filed.

It happened in October, when employees at CMC Recycling opened a steel box, only to find hundreds of sticks of dynamite and blast caps. (Courtesy: Knoxville Police Department)

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ATF Confirms Origins of Box of Dynamite that Prompted Knoxville Evacuation

It happened in October, when employees at CMC Recycling opened a steel box, only to find hundreds of sticks of dynamite and blast caps. (Courtesy: Knoxville Police Department)

ATF Confirms Origins of Box of Dynamite that Prompted Knoxville Evacuation

Posted on January 6, 2025 by rtravers • 0 Comments

Knoxville, TN (WOKI) New details are emerging in a dynamite scare that prompted an hours-long emergency response back in October in Knoxville.

Roughly 200 sticks of dynamite were found in a box at CMC Recycling on Western Avenue. Those explosives forced several homes and businesses near the plant to evacuate for over a day.

ATF officials tracing the source of that dynamite to an excavating company which left the explosives sealed up on a property for years.

The owner of the excavating company, who is now retired, thought he’d removed all explosives from the property.

The box was sold to a recycling company in Kingsport that sold it go CMC Recycling in Knoxville.

ATF officials say it amounts to a mistake, and no charges will be filed.

It happened in October, when employees at CMC Recycling opened a steel box, only to find hundreds of sticks of dynamite and blast caps. (Courtesy: Knoxville Police Department)