Employees at a Washington towing company got quite a bit more than the usual abandoned fast-food wrappers when they looked inside an impounded vehicle on August 31. According to the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office, workers discovered what appeared to be multiple improvised explosive devices inside the vehicle and promptly called authorities.
Deputies responded to the facility and established a safety perimeter while requesting assistance from the Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad. As unsettling as finding anything resembling an explosive inside a car would be, specialists soon determined the towing company’s discovery wasn’t a false alarm.
Bomb Squad technicians examined the objects using X-ray equipment and confirmed they were active improvised explosive devices. With the potentially dangerous contents of the vehicle now confirmed, authorities had to figure out how to dispose of them without creating another problem in the process.
That proved slightly more complicated than simply detonating them where they were found. Extremely dry conditions made dealing with the devices at the towing facility too dangerous, forcing authorities to come up with a considerably wetter alternative.
Bomb Squad Takes the Explosives to a Washington Beach
The Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad determined that the devices should be transported to a nearby beach where they could be destroyed under controlled conditions. Washington State Parks was brought into the operation to help coordinate the disposal and ensure members of the public stayed away from the area.
At approximately 11 p.m., deputies and bomb technicians arrived at the Seaview beach approach with the devices. Authorities cleared bystanders from the surrounding area before technicians carried out a controlled detonation without anyone being injured.
Anyone living close enough apparently didn’t need a Sheriff’s Office Facebook post to know *something* had happened. At least one resident later said their family heard the resulting “loud boom” from near 38th without having any idea at the time what caused it.
The Pacific County Sheriff’s Office has not publicly identified a suspect or provided details about the vehicle in which the explosives were discovered. Information concerning both has been turned over to the Washington State Patrol Bomb Squad as the investigation continues.
Comments and Reactions to the Ieds Found in an Impounded Vehicle
The comments naturally contained plenty of questions about how multiple active explosive devices ended up inside an impounded vehicle to begin with. “Omg. What was this person planning on doing with these explosive devices?!” one person asked, while another hoped authorities had found the only devices that were out there.
Then there were the people more interested in the enormous noise created when the Bomb Squad solved the immediate problem. One commenter whose parents live near 38th said the family heard the loud boom without knowing its source, while someone else joked, “And no whales were harmed in the process,” considering the explosives ultimately met their end on a beach.
Mostly, people seemed relieved that an extremely unusual discovery ended without anyone getting hurt. “Good work by all involved,” one person wrote while expressing gratitude that nobody was injured, and given that this entire thing started with tow company employees unexpectedly finding active IEDs in a vehicle, that’s a remarkably good ending.