RCMP explosives experts are on their way to a remote Manitoba First Nation community to deal with a dangerous situation that prompted the evacuation of 20 trailers.

Police were alerted to the explosives after a man in the community of Pukatawagan on Tuesday evening found a box full of blasting caps while cleaning out an old business that had been owned by a construction company.

The man took them home, and left the box in his yard, near a playground, according to police.

RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Line Karpish said officers ended up evacuating the 20 trailers in the area.

A blasting cap is a small explosive device generally used to detonate a larger, more powerful secondary explosives such as TNT or dynamite.

Those larger compounds require a certain amount of energy to detonate. Blasting caps, which are much more sensitive and easy to detonate, provide that.

However, they can go off unexpectedly and are hazardous for untrained personnel to handle.

"It wouldn't be like a huge bang, but for all intents and purposes, you know, it could certainly hurt someone's hand and then, you know, you put 20, 30 together, it definitely has potential for harm," Karpish said Wednesday.

She warns anyone who may find old explosives to leave them alone and call authorities.

Pukatawagan is more than 800 kilometres north of Winnipeg, near the Saskatchewan border.