A major Orlando street has been shut down most of Friday because of an explosives scare inside a home.
The bomb squad and hazardous materials crews said they have been sorting through potentially explosive material inside a home on North Orange Avenue near Highway 17-92, WESH 2 News reported.
Late Thursday night, police said they arrested Abram Smith, 20, after a suspicious fire in the home. Smith went before a judge Friday on a charge of making or possessing explosive materials.
Police said experts are in the final stages of safely storing a collection of highly flammable chemicals, and other materials found inside the home.
The street has been closed most of Friday and a few homes were evacuated as a precaution while hazmat teams went through the home, authorities said.
"It was determined that the items in the house were more of the makings of a destructive device or something of that nature," Sgt. Barbara Jones of the Orange County Police Department said.
While the street was closed and homes were evacuated, the owners of the home, Kip and Robin Smith, were escorted to a car and driven away, police said.
Hazardous Materials experts went inside the house and collected what police said was dangerous evidence. Officials said the flammable and explosive chemicals were found by firefighters Thursday after they put out a mattress fire at the home.
Police said they found batteries, wires and at least one device that looked like a pipe bomb inside the home, as well as books on terrorism and bomb making and two guns.
"They will take out, keep, dispose of anything that needs to be disposed of or kept as it relates to the crime scene, which is this house," Jones said.
Smith lives at the home with his parents and was arrested and charged with possession of bomb-making materials.
He attends night school at Edgewater High School and after Thursday's discovery of the material in his home, hazmat teams said they checked out his locker and other areas of the school, but found no evidence of explosives.
"Everybody involved in this wanted to be sure that the threat that we discovered inside this residence didn't go beyond the residence to the location where he was a student," Jones said.
Police said Smith does not have a criminal history and neighbors said they know very little about him. A handful of Smith's neighbors were evacuated, but even more said they have been affected by the explosives scare.
At least three immediate neighbors were evacuated by police.
"It's a little unnerving having that right in my neighborhood," Barbara Klischies said.
Many residents of the area said knowing that a house full of potential bomb-making materials was just down the street wasn’t the only thing that upset them. Many neighbors said they were even more furious when they found out the suspect still lived with his parents.
"When the kid buys this stuff, doesn’t anybody get suspicious?" Klisches' husband, Herb, said. "If I bought a ton of fertilizer, someone would say, 'Hey, you live in the suburbs, what are you doing with fertilizer?' Whatever he was getting didn’t send up any flags?"
Police said the street will remain closed at least until midnight until they are able to finish their investigation.
To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Greg Fox.
More News From WESH.com:
Police Investigate Elementary School Pellet Gun Shooting
Edgewater High School Plans Revealed
Group Calls For Mandatory HPV Vaccinations
