Fears that the bunker might be booby-trapped appeared to be unfounded, but bomb experts were scouring the scene after the rescue.
The department received 44 such calls last Tuesday, all unfounded, and it handled 375 bomb threats and reports between Sept. 11 and Oct. 10.
He also said bomb threats that were unfounded vastly increased after Sept. 11.
Mr. Hevesi clashed with Mr. Vallone at two candidate debates over the comptroller's assertion that the budget is a "time bomb," which Mr. Vallone has called unfounded and alarmist.
In the wake of the World Trade Center attack, hundreds of reports of potential bombs -- all of them unfounded -- have frayed nerves and forced the evacuation of a number of buildings, including the Empire State Building and, yesterday morning, Grand Central Terminal.
The day was mostly quiet in Baghdad, and fears that terrorists would celebrate the anniversary by setting off their fifth truck bomb in Iraq in a month proved unfounded.
The video was meant to show that Western criticism of the relentless bombing of civilians in Aleppo was completely unfounded, but its arguments were swiftly discredited.
And all across the state, local officials have struggled to contend with a barrage of bomb threats and anthrax scares, all of which have been unfounded.
The bomb threat, like suspicisous packages in New York, LA, and other cities, proved unfounded, but it made an already-pitched atmosphere all the more dramatic.
Mr. Hevesi uses the term "time bomb" to describe the mayor's proposed budget, a term that Mr. Vallone says is unfounded and alarmist.
