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IMPERIAL BEACH — The discovery Friday of an unidentified device resembling a pipe bomb near the Imperial Beach Pier prompted authorities to evacuate the area until a bomb squad determined that the object was harmless.
A caller reported the presence of the device — a roughly 10-inch black cylinder on top of a cinder block with wires protruding from it — in the 900 block of Ocean Lane about 7:45 a.m., according to sheriff’s officials.
Ordnance-handling and hazardous materials personnel investigated and concluded that the object was not a threat and appeared to possibly be a mechanism for collecting storm-related weather data, authorities said. Its origin was not immediately clear.
The area was reopened by late morning.
