A portion of Yelm Avenue was closed for over an hour from First Street to Fourth Street during the afternoon hours of Monday, Jan. 5, due to a bomb scare at Fairway Real Estate — located 222 East Yelm Avenue.
Yelm Police Chief Rob Carlson confirmed the road closure to the Nisqually Valley News around 2:45 p.m. and added that Washington State Patrol’s (WSP) bomb squad would handle the investigation into the suspected bomb.
Later in the day at around 4:20 p.m., Carlson told the Nisqually Valley News it was determined that the suspected bomb was not an explosive — and noted the investigation was simply a precautionary measure by YPD and WSP’s bomb squad.
According to Carlson, the package was delivered to Fairway Real Estate’s front porch. Once suspicions arose, YPD officers were dispatched to investigate.
Responding YPD officers noted the package contained “multiple large cylinder shaped objects,” according to Carlson.
“Our protocol is to just step back and call the Washington State Patrol’s bomb squad,” Carlson said. “We waited for them to come out and in the process of that, we made the area clear. We had to block off Yelm Avenue from First Street to Fourth Street to reroute traffic and keep the area safe.”
According to the Yelm police chief, WSP’s bomb squad was also initially unsure of what the items were.
After a thorough investigation, it was determined by WSP’s bomb squad that the items in the package weren’t explosives and that there wasn’t an active threat to the public.
“When I saw the picture of it, the items appeared to be a cylinder — a round ceramic-type electrical insulator — but they were large. They were pretty good size — maybe six inches in diameter,” Carlson said. “There were at least four of them there. There looked to be some sort of wiring around it and so we wanted to make sure it wasn’t some type of explosive.”
Though Carlson said most bomb scares turn out to be exactly that — a scare — he’s glad his department has an approach of rather being safe than sorry.
“Nine times out of 10, these situations turn out just like this one,” he said. “It’s that one time where we want to make sure we’re taking precaution and make sure everything is covered and taken care of. We’ll let the guys who do that for a living come out and make that decision — rather than us.”
