PORT TOWNSEND — A military-grade flare was detonated on a Port Townsend beach last weekend.

At about 8 p.m. Saturday, the Port Townsend Police Department was alerted to a device that had washed up on the shore west of North Beach Park and was determined to be a marine marker used by the U.S. Navy.

Police contacted Naval Base Kitsap, which dispatched its Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) technicians to the beach.

“The technicians determined that the marine marker was unsafe to move due to its pyrotechnic filler and armed condition,” said Liane Nakahara, public affairs specialist with Navy Region Northwest.

“It was then determined that the safest course of action was to detonate this item on site,” she said.

Said Port Townsend Police Chief Tom Olson: “We often have these things wash up here and it’s part of the drill to call the Navy EOD.”

Port Townsend is 2 miles from Indian Island Naval Magazine and has been the site of military bases in the past.