On a Monday afternoon in early March 2018, an explosion at an apartment building made Beaver Dam — a small city of about 16,000 people in southeast Wisconsin — a hub for local, state and federal agencies.
The single casualty of the blast at 109 Knaup Drive was the resident of a second-floor unit who, authorities later discovered, was crafting homemade explosives.
About 30 residents lost their homes and belongings after authorities determined remaining explosive material rendered the building too dangerous to remediate and burned it down.
For 15 days, agencies including more than 20 local fire departments and the FBI were centered on Beaver Dam. "I'd never seen anything like this," John Kreuziger, chief of the Beaver Dam Police Department, said.