BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - The explosive device lodged in the leg of a Walker County man was removed early this morning by an Army explosives expert inside an ambulance parked outside of UAB Hospital, ending an eight-hour ordeal.

A U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal specialist out of Fort Benning was brought to Birmingham via Alabama State Trooper escort, and removed what turned out to be a 40 mm practice grenade from the thigh of the man. Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said the incident ended at 6:50 a.m.

"That was extremely heroic,'' said Dave Hyche, a Birmingham supervisor with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "Nobody knew this wasn't live. Removing it could have easily killed everyone there."

The man, in his early 60s, was brought to UAB Hospital late Friday night with a possible explosive device inside of his leg. The incident prompted Birmingham and UAB police to close down Fifth Avenue South between 18th and 19th streets from after 11 p.m. into the early morning hours.

He was brought to UAB from another hospital by Regional Paramedic Services, Birmingham police Sgt. B. Shelton said. The man had apparently been tinkering with some kind of explosive device and it became lodged inside of his leg, Shelton said.

Hyche said he was disassembling the grenade when it launched. It was not fired from a launcher.

He went to another hospital in Walker County and was then brought to Birmingham. Neither hospital would allow him to enter with a possible explosive device in his leg, authorities said.

When he got to Birmingham, he remained inside the ambulance outside of the emergency room.

Law enforcement officials from at least a half dozen agencies were on the scene including Birmingham and Jasper police, ATF, FBI, the State Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Army EOD. Both Birmingham police and the SBI had bomb squads on site.

Hyche said authorities spent all night not knowing whether the device was a high explosive grenade. Nobody knew, he said, until the Army specialist removed the device in the ambulance.

The man told authorities he was tinkering with the practice grenade when it fired, and lodged in his leg. Parts of it, Hyche said, broke out a window in the man's home.

The practice grenades, he said, will fire and travel up to several hundred meters. They're not uncommon, but authorities don't want them out in the general public.

Authorities will search the man's home today.

"He's given us some indication where he got it, and we're following up on leads to see if there are any more'' Hyche said. "We don't want anybody else getting hurt."

Hyche praised all of those involved in the overnight ordeal. "The Jasper paramedics stayed with the guy all night and saved his life,'' Hyche said. "Had it been high explosive, it could have taken that ambulance apart."

Hyche asked that anyone who knows of other similar devices out there call 205-583-5920.