Suspicious wires bring Bomb Squad to Lopez

Twice, a road crew working for the county Public Works Department suspected explosives while clearing ditches near the Lopez Ferry Terminal, and each time bringing in a Bomb Squad.

The first time was Dec. 30, when crew members spotted three holes with blasting caps. The wires appeared to belong to explosive materials, so the road crew backed off and called its supervisor, Public Works Department Road Operations Manager Russ Harvey.

Harvey in turn notified the San Juan County Sheriff’s Department, which placed a call into the Washington State Patrol’s Bomb Squad Unit. “Their advice was to error on the side of safety,” San Juan County Sheriff Bill Cummin said.

The immediate area was then cleared, ferry service was suspended for what would be about six hours, and Ferry Road was closed at Odlin Park. Residents along Ferry Road had the option of staying inside their homes or leaving the area.

When the bomb squad arrived, members examined the site and found that one of the three blasting caps appeared to still be active. The Bomb Squad attempted to detonate but was unable to do so. At that point, it was determined that the dynamite, which was more than eight years old, had passed the volatile state and posed no threat, Sheriff Bill Cumming said.

The Bomb Squad then buried the blasting caps, after which time ferry service and local access resumed. “We worked pretty hard to get people in and out as fast as we could,” Cumming said of the delays the incident caused. “We appreciated everybody’s cooperation.”

According to Harvey, the explosives were from a 1996 Washington State Ferries project in which power was installed to the ferry slip.

The three-man crew uncovered the blasting caps and wires while clearing ditches in the area with a backhoe. It was work that had not been done in that area since the installation. According to Harvey, the ditches lie below steep rock walls, so they often don’t fill up with debris and are cleared less often.

The crew resumed clearing ditches at the ferry landing on Monday, Jan. 3 only to uncover more wires. The Bomb Squad was again called out to Lopez; however, this time around safety measures were scaled down.

A blast protector was placed at the scene and traffic was diverted from the area, but access to the ferry landing was allowed and ferry service continued as scheduled.

The Bomb Squad once again determined that the wires constituted no threat.

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