HOLLADAY, Utah — Residents evacuated for hours while officials conducted detonations of old dynamite found in a Holladay home overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning.
VIDEO: Smoke clears after detonations, showing what's left of the Holladay home
Around 4:30 a.m., bomb techs blasted the explosives found in a home near 6200 South and 2300 East, which could be heard and seen from miles away.
"Early this morning our bomb techs were able to detonate both explosive packages that were found at the structure," explained Assistant Chief Dustin Dern with the Unified Fire Department. "Nobody was hurt, that went as well as could be expected."
Video shared with FOX 13 News by resident Robert Eliasoff shows the magnitude of the explosion, with a bright ball of light flooding the dark sky and sending debris flying.
VIDEO: Footage from a resident's security camera shows explosion lighting up the night sky
After the second explosion, flames and smoke could be seen billowing into the air.
"There was a fire resulting from that explosion, we had crews staged and ready to respond and they've contained that fire and there's no fire damage to surrounding structures," Chief Dern said.
The blast apparently leveled the home and hours later, crews were still working to completely extinguish the flames.
WATCH: Explosion is heard and seen from miles away as officials detonate dynamite
Before the detonations could happen, officials went door to door evacuating residents, making sure the scene was secure through the night.
"I live just around the corner from it so it kind of freaked out my family," resident Khalid Hararah told FOX 13 News as he evacuated.
Hararah and his family were given an hour's notice to leave their house and rushed to a nearby elementary school.
"Anxiety-inducing at first, because you're like what the heck is going on," he said. "A little discouraged because apparently it was a thing that was known for ten hours and it would have been nice to be notified a little earlier. It was a little freaky, but you do what you can."
Around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, just as detonations were set to begin, crews found even more dynamite and expanded the evacuation perimeter to 1,500 feet in every direction.
"We had a coordinated effort to make a plan and mitigate the hazard as best we could," Dern explained.
The Red Cross of Utah helped provide shelter for the evacuees, providing water and snacks through the night. The evacuation center was closed at 5:45 Wednesday morning.
Bomb techs felt that the situation was "unstable" and detonations needed to happen as soon as possible, which is why evacuations commenced through the middle of the night, officials explained.
Unified Fire Department officials said the owner of a home discovered the dynamite and called authorities. Hazardous materials teams, bomb squads, public health officials and others from multiple agencies responded.
The dynamite had reportedly been passed down from generation to generation before the current homeowner found it.
Officials say the house will be uninhabitable after the detonation. Further specifics about the dynamite and exactly what explosive items were found were not made available.
An investigation is underway to learn more about the nature of the explosives.
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