Metro’s bomb squad used Nashville fire trucks to inspect holes in a rock wall surrounding businesses on Brick Church Pike, searching for explosive materials that should have been cleared away years ago.
The discovery of the explosive materials by Amazon employees caused the warehouse to suddenly shut down Wednesday.
An Amazon driver, who agreed to speak with News4 Investigates if we protected his identity, said he was first turned away from Amazon’s main entrance last Wednesday an employee first spotted one of the explosive materials in the rock wall.
“(The worker) told everybody, ‘Get out.’ Said ‘Hey, you need to get out now. There are explosives out there,’” the driver said.
The driver said on Tuesday night, he was alerted that the warehouse had closed because additional explosive materials were found in the rock wall.
“Who in their right mind can leave explosives hanging around?” the driver said.
Permits obtained by News4 Investigates show the blasting occurred in 2016.
The permit was pulled by Summit Contractors, who told News4 Investigates they hired a subcontractor to do the blasting.
News4 Investigates repeatedly tried to reach the subcontractor but without success by our deadline.
Metro’s bomb squad, along with the state fire marshal and workers with Summit Contractors, spent Wednesday combing along the wall for any more explosive materials.
The materials contain powder, that when connected to an ignition source, explode and cause rocks to blast apart.
None of the explosive materials discovered were connected to an ignition source.
It is unclear why the materials were still inside the holes in the wall as they should have been exploded during the blasting.
