Pipe Bombs: Not Just for the FDNY

Ah, leave it to a little pipe bomb to stir up tensions between the FDNY and NYPD. Firefighters found a pipe bomb in Queens. Now, procedure says that the NYPD has to be notified immediately, but the firefighters brought the bomb back to the stationhouse, calling the NYPD about an hour later. Now this is where things get crazy: Before the NYPD arrived, some firefighters may have tried to reassemble the pipe bomb...and then it was left on a radiator! Later, the NYPD's bomb squad determined that the pipe bomb was "half full with explosive powder, and the fuse was still inside. The fuse had burned in the fire, but [had] never gone off," according to a police source. The FDNY has launched an probe to see why protocol was not followed: Deputy Commissioner Francis Gribbon said, "We have protocols for the discovery of an explosive device... The one thing you don't do is take it with you." Yes, that seems pretty straightforward: A pipe bomb is not a memento.