Residents told to stay indoors as bomb squad seize ‘industrial’ firework

POLICE cordoned off an area in Wargrave as an “industrial-sized” firework was discovered at a property on Sunday night.

A 100m area at Highfield Park was taped off as a precaution for public safety for several hours while officers and the Army explosive ordnance disposal team investigated.

Residents were asked to stay indoors for their own safety. Nicolas Buffault, 52, who lives in Highfield Park, said: “I definitely felt shocked. Something like this has never happened before because it’s usually quiet around here.

“I saw two or three police cars and police officers in the street and then I saw two military police. By the end of the afternoon, there were three or four police cars and one van.

“Anything can happen anywhere now, as we’re seeing on the news. It’s like you don’t know your neighbours anymore. I think that’s the biggest surprise.

“I think everybody is quiet but there’s always someone who does the thing that you expect the least, really. Initially, the police placed one cordon around the island and then they pushed it to just by the end of our house. We weren’t scared because we were far away enough to feel safe but we were definitely surprised and shocked.

“It’s quite worrying that someone nearby was keeping an industrial firework. I guess there are rules that are around these kinds of items, saying you should store them in a certain way.”

Fiodor Slavov, 36, whose house was inside the cordon, said: “I was a little bit surprised. It’s a very quiet area here and I’ve been here for six years and I’ve never had any trouble at all.

“I was here when the police came but I had no idea what had happened. I left and then came back at about 8pm and they had gone so from my perspective I might have missed some of the scary moments.

“There were police and I didn’t even know what house they were going to. When the police posted the update, to some extent it did surprise me but more from the perspective that it’s very local and the area is very quiet but it wouldn’t be anything to make me worry. A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: “The cordons were in place as a precaution while we ascertained what this was. Public safety was paramount.

“We are aware of the disruption this has caused and we are grateful to everyone for their patience and understanding while this was being investigated.

“It was an unexplained item, which was investigated with the help of the Army team. The item was a firework, but not a standard one. There is no further investigation.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “We can confirm an Army explosive ordnance disposal team from 11 EOD & Search Regiment was called out at the request of Thames Valley Police.

“Various commercially available pyrotechnics were found and these items were handed to the police.”