Controlled detonation held at Beaver Dam apartment after Monday explosion

BEAVER DAM - A team of experts detonated leftover homemade explosives Wednesday afternoon in an apartment, two days after a fatal explosion there.

A small ball of fire accompanied the controlled explosion, which went out the porch and front windows of the apartment just after 1:30 p.m. in the 100 block of Knaup Drive. Plywood from the roof also flew into the air, as black smoke started coming from within the structure.

RELATED:One dead after apartment explosion in Beaver Dam

On Monday afternoon, a man, whose identity authorities have not released, died after an initial explosion in the apartment.

Beaver Dam police found "a significant amount of highly volatile, homemade explosives," Chief John Kreuziger said Wednesday morning during a news conference.

The bomb-making materials were so sensitive, authorities could not handle them or remove them from the home, Kreuziger said. Instead, they blew them up.

Kreuziger warned residents to avoid the area Wednesday, saying the controlled detonation might damage the apartment even more but that police were "doing everything possible" to lessen the damage to that and surrounding buildings.

Vehicles were taken from the apartment complex's parking lot before the detonation and will be stored in the nearby Fleet Farm parking lot.

Diane Carr, who lives in an adjacent building and was at work at the time of the Monday explosion, told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin she was later able to briefly go in and get her dog. She had to leave two cats behind because she was only allowed one trip and couldn't carry all three at once.

More than anything, she said, she just wants to be able to go in and give her cats food and water.

Just after 4 p.m., Kreuziger held a second press conference and announced the controlled detonation was deemed a success.

All people and pets were evacuated prior to the detonation, he said, and the body of the deceased man was removed from the apartment Tuesday evening.

Kreuziger said a large vent was cut in the roof of the apartment complex, and sandbags were strategically placed in and around the apartment to direct the expected shock wave and minimize the impact of the detonation. Doors, windows and adjoining properties were boarded up with plywood to mitigate the effects of any shock wave.

Charges were placed in and around the apartment, he said.

Following the detonation, a fire occurred in the attic area of the building, as well as in the adjacent apartments, and was extinguished by the Beaver Dam Fire Department.

Some structural damage occurred within the building, which is pending review by a structural engineering authority, Kreuziger said.

Damage from the controlled explosion was less severe than experts initially anticipated, he said, leading officials to expect some residents to begin moving back into their homes Wednesday night or Thursday.

Beaver Dam police, with help from the Dodge County Sheriff's Office, FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation and the Dane County Sheriff’s Office, continue to investigate the identity of the man killed in Monday's explosion and the reasons for the explosives.

Authorities held two town hall meetings for residents directly affected by the situation, with an FBI victim assistant specialist and Dodge County Emergency Management. The meetings were not open to the public or news media.

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Photojournalist Doug Raflik contributed to this story.