LEE COUNTY, March 17, 2004 Army specialists say a device found in a Fort Myers salvage yard Tuesday afternoon was likely an old Navy missile. Officials with Patrick Air Force Base say workers were attempting to cut the rocket apart with a blow torch when it ignited and began racing around the scrap yard with its high-explosive payload intact.
The incident happened at Garden Street Metal and Tool on Metro Parkway in Fort Myers.
"I turned around, I saw this thing shooting flames out the back," said Rob Weber.
Weber had no idea what he was dealing with.
"I felt all invincible with my crane holding it in place and not knowing what I had," said Weber.
What he had was a highly explosive Navy training missile.
"It was about eight feet in length approximately 8 inches in diameter," said Weber.
At first he thought it looked more like a keel on a boat - until it started shooting across his scrap yard.
"There was a puddle of water and I threw it in there thinking that might put it out but that just seemed to kick it into high gear it started shooting off like a rocket," said Weber.
After the device went off, workers called the police. Members of the Southwest Florida Regional Bomb Squad assessed the item and determined it was a military explosive. The US Military was then notified and members of the Army's 766th Explosive Ordnance Company came from Cape Canaveral to assess the device.
The owner said he's been in business since 1989 and said nothing like this has ever happened. He said he thought he knew where it came from.
"This thing was so oxidized and corroded and weathered that I believe it laid in a field somewhere for a long time and just got cleaned up with the scrap and brought in with the scrap," said Weber.
Garden Street receives scrap metal from all over.
"We service roll off containers, a lot of harvesting companies and old farms doing clean up," said Weber.
Weber still can't believe there was something in his junkyard that could've blown up.
"I feel damn lucky - I got my green on everyday. God looked out on us last night," said Weber.
The Army unit took the device to a remote area Wednesday morning and detonated the device. They say they're very lucky no one was hurt.
