Concert campers riot at Gorge
Comfort station burned
GEORGE - Roughly 400 campers at the Gorge Amphitheater were rioting Sunday morning, leaving one restroom burned, five people arrested and a firetruck damaged.
The people involved were attending the Van's Warped Tour, a collection of more than 90 rock bands performing in George.
Grant County Sheriff's deputies responded to a report of an assault at 1:32 a.m. on Sunday, according to Grant County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy John Turley. Deputies arrived at Section 18-Comfort Station 8 to reportedly find the restrooms on fire with approximately 400 people involved in fights. They ranged in age from 18 to 30 years old, Turley added.
As the deputies arrived, the crowd threw bottles and cans of beer, striking several deputies and breaking the windshield of a Gorge firetruck, said Turley.
Firefighters extinguished the fire.
"Deputies and firefighters left the area in a hail of bottles, cans, rocks, and debris," Turley said. "Shortly after leaving the area many more fires were set by the crowd of campers."
Law enforcement returned to empty the campgrounds at 5:50 a.m.
The sheriff's office sought help from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Washington State Patrol, Washington State Fish and Wildlife, and police departments from Coulee Dam, Quincy, Grand Coulee, Moses Lake, Warden, Ephrata, Coulee City.
Grant County Fire District 3 was summoned along with two ambulance crews from Quincy Valley Hospital.
Five adults were arrested for various charges including obstructing a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct, and intimidating a public servant with threats to do harm.
Booked into the Grant County Jail in connection to the riot were Kyle Anthony Phillips, 24, Post Falls, Idaho; Travis William Abram, 22, Hayden, Idaho; Aaron David Smith, 18, Coeur d' Alene, Idaho; Jacob Lewis Spaeth, 21, Fort Lewis, Wash.; and Richard Joseph Dempsey, 27, Burbank, Wash.
Turley said there were no reported injuries by campers. Deputies and assisting police officers received minor bumps and bruises from thrown objects.
A preliminary estimate of damages is projected to be thousands of dollars.