BLYTHE, Ga. (WJBF) – The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office’s Hazardous Devices Unit, otherwise known as the Bomb Squad, is blowing things up this week.

Once a year, different agencies from around the country join the Sheriff’s Office at its training center in Blythe to investigate different explosive devices.

It’s called a post-blast investigation class, and it’s to train crime scene specialists.

“Out here, we blow up different items and let the investigators search through what’s left and determine what was actually blown up,” said John Perkins, an investigator with Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

Bomb technicians and investigators go through a step-by-step process to determine how, what, and who blew something up.

“We show up, we have to clear a path, make sure that the actual scene is safe before we start actually processing the scene of the evidence,” said Jonathan Olivares, a bomb technician for RCSO. “Once we do that, we do everything by sectors, everything in order.”

Early on Wednesday, they detonated a pipe bomb in a briefcase, and later on that evening they exploded four cars with IED’s.

This is to prepare for, and possibly prevent bombings like ones we’ve seen in the past.

“Stuff like the Boston Marathon, something like that,” Olivares said. “If something was to occur, we could process scenes and look for who did it and stuff like that.”

And the course is very popular.

“Most of them are excited to be here. This is a class they’ve been wanting to take, there’s typically a waiting list for the class so it take a couple years to get a spot,” John Perkins said. “So when they get here they’re ready to learn, ready to work, and they’re happy to be here.”

The training will continue until Friday, so if you live near Blythe and hear some explosions, don’t be alarmed.