A few weeks ago, a very loud afternoon boom near Millstream startled Ucluelet and sent rumours flying across social media pages.
Const. Midlane assured the boom was not associated with any mischief or illegal activity but rather a Marine Location Marker being exploded by Canadian Military officials.
"The boom was caused by the military," he said.
Midlane explained a local had come across a Marine Location Marker near Radar Hill in the Pacific Rim National Park and had reported their finding to the Department of National Defence.
"The military explosives unit came up and they needed a place to detonate the explosive. They came down to the Ucluelet gravel pit and exploded that marine marker," he said.
"The moral of the story is that those marine markers are pretty dangerous if they do wash up on the shore and there are several per year reported to us."
He urges locals never to touch any of the canisters that wash up and to always report any markers they come across to either their local RCMP detachment or the DND.
The canisters are roughly 45 centimeters long and long and 7.5 centimeters in diameter.
reporter@westerlynews.ca