Hear loud booms Wednesday afternoon near Sycamore? That was a bomb squad testing explosives nearby.

SYCAMORE – Those loud booms residents near Sycamore and in other parts of DeKalb County might have heard and felt on Wednesday were due to an area bomb squad testing explosives at a nearby quarry, local law enforcement officials said.

DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan said authorities were made aware the Kane County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad was testing explosives on Wednesday at Vulcan Quarry on Barber Greene Road. The sheriff’s office put out a Facebook post at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

Sullivan said the Kane County Sheriff’s Office worked with the private owners of the quarry “to detonate old explosives for disposal purposes.”

“And that’s why it was being done,” Sullivan said.

Sycamore Police Department put out a similar social media post at 10:52 a.m. Wednesday about an agency “setting off explosives in the gravel pit.”

“If you hear loud booms coming from south of Sycamore today, don’t worry,” Sycamore police officials wrote in the post.

Sycamore Police Deputy Chief Steve Cook confirmed in a Wednesday email the two separate Facebook posts were related.

Commenters on both public posts said they could hear the loud booms as far as Genoa. Most appeared to be reassured to know the source of the explosions, which also allegedly rattled some houses nearby.

Sullivan said the bomb squad completed its testing by about 1 p.m. Wednesday.