A possible explosive device found on the Greenbrier River Trail Monday morning turned out to be a firework according to West Virginia State Police EOD Specialist Sgt. A.W. Webb.

Webb was called in from Summersville to examine the device, and it didn't take him long to determine the device was not a threat.

“There was a one-and-a-half inch firework mortar,” explained Webb. “A consumer firework that had been wrapped in duct tape. Someone tried to set it off, it didn't work and they left it laying there. It was wrapped up in tape and whoever found it couldn't tell what it was.”

Hillsboro and Marlinton rescue squads and WV State Police responded to a call for a possible homemade explosive device along the river trail just south of the Thomas C. Edgar Memorial Bridge in Seebert. Evacuations were not necessary, but about a dozen trail riders were turned around throughout the morning by authorities at the scene.

“As soon as I could see it, I knew what it was,” said Webb. “It could have been worse.”