Main Street Reopened Following Bomb Scare [Updated]

A bomb scare in downtown Hellertown late Wednesday night closed a portion of Main Street and evacuated area residents.

As of 11 p.m., the Bethlehem Hazardous Device Unit cleared the scene, following the discovery of a suspicious package near Main and Durham streets Wednesday evening. Evacuated residents were allowed to return to their homes and traffic began flowing freely on Main Street.

What an alert Hellertown Patch reader and local resident described Wednesday evening as a "bomb scare" in the 400 block of Main Street was confirmed by borough police as a tactical response to a suspicious package.

As of 10:30 p.m., the Bethlehem Hazardous Device Unit was on-scene and Main Street in Hellertown remained closed north of Walnut Street, with traffic being detoured onto Front and Northampton streets.

A remote-controlled robot used by the bomb squad to investigate and detonate potential bombs was visible in the 400 block of Main Street.

A police officer stationed at the intersection of Main Street and Magnolia Road confirmed that the road was closed and residents had been evacuated after the suspicious item was discovered not far from Braveheart Highland Pub & Restaurant, 430 Main St., which a reader said had been evacuated, with a command post set up in the restaurant's parking lot.

The police officer said evacuated residents were temporarily sheltered at Dewey Fire Company No. 1.

Hours earlier, WFMZ-TV reported that Bethlehem's Hazardous Device Unit had responded to the 4400 block of Virginia Drive, Hanover Township, Northampton County, where three old sticks of TNT were reportedly found and a handful of homes evacuated as a precaution.