Anaheim – A 57-year-old male resident of a senior living community in Anaheim was arrested Saturday after authorities found several pounds of materials used to build illegal fireworks in his room, prompting a response from city police, fire and Orange County Sheriff’s bomb squad officials.

Anaheim police were called around 10 a.m. to the Brookdale Senior Living Facility in the 200 block of N. Dale Ave. where Mark Schimm is a resident, said Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt.

Officers received a tip when the renter purchased “a quantity of materials online,” Wyatt said.

Schimm was cooperative and “showed his materials to authorities, and they determined that the situation was unstable,” Wyatt said.

Staff at the apartment community called police when they became aware of the materials inside the man’s room.

“Because the safety of our residents is important to us, we contacted police when we discovered that there was a potentially hazardous situation in a resident’s apartment,” said Kristin Puckett, spokeswoman for the apartment community.

The Anaheim police and fire departments worked with the bomb squad to clear an apartment where Schimm was allegedly building homemade fireworks, similar to M80s, police said.

Northbound Dale Avenue was closed to through traffic as the bomb squad worked to defuse and dispose of the materials, which were potentially explosive, Wyatt said.

Some of the surrounding units were evacuated to another part of the complex as a precaution.

There was no evidence to show Schimm was making anything other than illegal firework-type devices, and investigators do not believe there is a connection to terrorism, police said.

Bomb techs were carting boxes of supplies out of the building around 2 p.m. Many residents said they were unaware that anything was amiss and wondered what all of the commotion was about.

Staff at the senior living center were going about their daily activities as authorities investigated the incident, Puckett said.

“Lunch was served early, activities are taking place, and we are assuring residents that police are handling the situation,” she said.

Schimm was arrested on suspicion of possession of materials with intent to manufacture a destructive device, possession of a destructive device without a license and arson.

He will be booked into the Orange County jail after a medical evaluation and is expected to be held on $250,000 bail.

Orange County Register photographer Nick Agro contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or jsudock@scng.com