Photo: DNV Fire & Rescue

An explosives team has been called in to assess an antique that might be an explosive in North Vancouver.

Four homes have been evacuated and the Canadian military has been called in after an item bought as an interesting antique by a North Vancouver resident has been identified as a military ordinance.

Police have blocked off a neighbourhood between Dollar Road and Roche Point Road on Dollarton Highway after concerns were raised that the item bought as a novelty may be an unexploded shell.

North Vancouver RCMP spokesman Sgt. Peter DeVries said a military explosives team has now been called in to assess the item.

DeVries said he understood a local person had acquired the item as an interesting antique but “there is now concern it is some sort of explosive item from the past.”

“It looks like a shell of some sort,” DeVries added. “It might be difficult for the average person to say that’s what it was. It’s very old.”

Police asked people in four neighbouring homes to evacuate this afternoon out of an abundance of caution, said DeVries.

The military team is expected to take some time to arrive at the scene, said DeVries, and Dollarton Highway is expected to remain blocked in the area for at least the next three or four hours.