Fake bomb clears mobile home park

U.S. Department of Defense team from Yakima comes to examine device

MOSES LAKE — When workers arrived on scene at Harvest Manor Friday morning, they noticed something that wasn't quite right.

Harvest Manor resident manager John Mares said he was first notified of a device at the clubhouse of the mobile home park off Airway Drive when the gardener came Friday morning. Mares later himself saw what he thought could have been a bomb, and notified the authorities.

"It was just sitting there on the floor," Mares said, "on the sidewalk on the front door."

The device was described by Mares as several cylindrical canisters with a wax cover on top. The Grant County Sheriff's Office later evacuated the clubhouse, and three homes within a 100-foot radius of what was described as a possible improvised explosive device.

The GCSO had the area evacuated for more than five hours while the Explosives Ordinance Division of the U.S. Department of Defense based out of Yakima came to seize the device. The GCSO was called to the scene shortly after 9:30 a.m. Friday.

"It may just be a hoax-type device," GCSO Chief Deputy John Turley said Friday morning, "but we're not taking any chances."

Mares said authorities told him it wasn't a bomb when they arrived on scene, but weren't sure what the device was.

"It may be a prank, it may not be," Mares said. " Who knows? It's hard to say."

The GCSO said in a news release Monday that the device was determined to be a hoax and was disposed of in the garbage.

For the several hours until the squad arrived from Yakima, members of various local agencies including the GCSO and Grant County Fire District No. 5 set up a post on nearby Airway Drive in case of an emergency.