Mortar shell found in North Bay front yard

City workers got a surprise this morning while digging in the front yard of a Lee Ave. home in North Bay.

They discovered what's believed to be an old World War Two mortar shell. A mortar is an artillery weapon which fires explosive shells at low velocities and short ranges.

"It's not a bomb," Sgt. Mike Hunter told BayToday. " It's more of a munition, a mortar round. We're not sure of the calibre because it's so old.

"It was buried in someone's yard and public works uncovered it when they were doing some excavation."

A disposal team from CFB Petawawa arrived this afternoon to remove it. 

One neighbour two doors down said he, "had no idea what was going on. I assumed it was a broken pipe."

The homeowner said she was told what was happening.

"They were really good. I was just leaving. They came to the door and basically mentioned there was a mortar in my front yard. It was explosive news for sure."

She was told to evacuate and that the street would be barricaded, which it was after the neighbourhood was informed.

"Everything was cleared off the streets and we had no access."

At no time did the neighbours feel unsafe.

"I thought it was probably a dud or had very low juice because they said it was very, very old. It was just bush back in the day so any artillery practice in North Bay would probably be this way. They are not filling it in today, maybe they're going to poke around and see what else is in there."

A worker chipped in, "We find a lot of stuff but this one looked real."

Someone tapped the shell and it didn't sound hollow  

"They called it a 'training round' said the city worker. "It's the real thing without the fuse."

Speculation is that developers needed fill for the swampy West Ferris area to build homes and were probably getting fill from the escarpment on an old training range and the shell got dug up with the fill.