Bomb being investigated — Human-caused fires also under investigation

The Weston County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a bomb found in an oil field supply yard recently, and is still looking into a pair of human-caused fires that occurred in the summer, according to Sheriff Bryan Colvard.

The bomb was located by workers at an old storage yard for oil field equipment near Upton on Nov. 30 at around 8 a.m., Colvard said.

“There are no real buildings there. It was found in one of the tool trailers. The workers were there Friday working, and when they went back in the morning, there it was,” he said, confirming that the device had to have been placed sometime in the overnight hours.

The workers then backed out of the trailer and called the sheriff’s office. Once on the scene, Colvard said, his department contacted the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, which sent two bomb technicians.

“The bomb technicians came down and defused it, which is not saying much the way it was designed,” he said.

The bomb was then taken into evidence and is being investigated “as we speak,” Colvard said.

At this time, he said, he could confirm that the bomb was made out of a propane tank and that another device was part of the assembly.

“What we are dealing with is a little bit unknown, whether it would have started a fire or caused an explosion. We will know more when we get done working all the data,” Colvard said.

He noted that the department is also looking at suspects.

In addition to the active bomb investigation, Colvard confirmed that his office is still investigating two human-caused fires that occurred in early October. The two fires in question began around the same time in similar locations near Red Butte on U.S. Highway 85 North.

It is unknown if the fires were caused by accident or on purpose, he said. He did confirm that they were human-caused.