Incident Sparks Local Bomb Scares Spokane, Boise Federal Buildings Received Threats

Telephone bomb threats were received at federal buildings in Spokane and Boise following Wednesday’s explosion in Oklahoma City.

More than 300 people were evacuated from the Boise facility after a threat was called in to the U.S. District Court office at 11:13 a.m.

“We just heard the fire alarm and just left the building,” said employee Sylvia Wirth. “I didn’t know it was a bomb scare until I got outside … (then) it did scare me to death.”

U.S. Marshal Jim Benham said the combination of the telephone threat, “the series of events in Oklahoma, and finding some articles in the building which we could not identify” led to the decision to evacuate.

Bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in to search the seven-story building.

The man who called in the Spokane bomb threat sounded intoxicated and made references to the bombing three hours earlier in Oklahoma, U.S. Marshal Ron Dashiell said.

The call, which was tape-recorded, was made to the Internal Revenue Service, Dashiell said.

There was no evacuation of the nine-story office building at 920 W. Riverside, where 650 federal employees work.

The hushed halls of the Coeur d’Alene Federal Building remained undisturbed by all the commotion: No explosions, no bomb threats and apparently no fear.

“It could happen any time, any place so there’s no sense worrying,” said Donald F. Downs, an inspector with the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Downs was only 15 feet away when a bomb exploded in a planting box outside the Coeur d’Alene Federal Building in 1986.

No one was injured. Three white supremacists pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with the bombings.

Since the explosion nine years ago, Downs said, stiff security inside the building has helped make employees feel more secure.

The marshal’s office is located on the first floor of the building, people trying to enter the second floor must pass through a metal detector and cameras have been placed in various spots throughout the building.

“They’re everywhere,” said Denny Scieszinski, U.S. Marshal inspector, who is responsible for district court security. “You walk in here and I’ll see you.”

However, in both the Oklahoma bombing and the 1986 Coeur d’Alene bombing, the explosives were placed just outside.

Said Scieszinski: “You can’t protect everything.”

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