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5 homes evacuated, military called in to deal with antique explosive at North Vancouver home

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Five homes in North Vancouver were evacuated and the Department of National Defence was called in Wednesday as authorities dealt with a military artifact in a residential neighbourhood.

North Vancouver RCMP said on Twitter that they had closed Dollarton Highway between Roche Point Drive and Dollar Road after being notified of a "historical ordnance" that was "bought as a novelty," but may be hazardous.

Angelina Kekic was running errands in the morning and tried going back home around 1 p.m., but couldn’t get close to her house.

“The police stopped us and said we’re not allowed in," she told CTV News Vancouver.

Kekic, who was supposed to be working from home, had to cancel her scheduled work appointments. When she asked police what was going on, she was told a potentially explosive device had been found in a home.

“I wanted to know, is it my house? Where this this happening? Where is this explosive? Are there people around my home? For me, that was unnerving, not knowing what was happening," she said.

Sgt. Peter DeVries, spokesperson for North Vancouver RCMP, told CTV News the item in question is a military shell of some kind, and is believed to be quite old.

The person who bought it thought it was decommissioned, but had second thoughts and contacted police, DeVries said.

Officers evacuated four surrounding homes and secured the area around the house where the explosive is located, DeVries said.

The area was shut down for several hours Wednesday afternoon as police awaited the arrival of Canadian Armed Forces experts.

RCMP confirmed Canadian Armed Forces personnel determined the ordnance might be live and dangerous and removed it from the home. By 6:30 p.m. the road reopened and evacuated residents had been allowed to return home.

Sgt. Devries said the incident was not criminal in nature. No fines or charges have been laid. No one was hurt, but some residents were troubled by the hours-long ordeal in their normally quiet community.

“I called my neighbours and made sure they were safe,” said Kekic. “We’re fortunate that we have a good neighbourhood and we watch out for each other.”

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