Busy Day For Bomb Squad

An explosive found in Willamette Park, a pipe bomb found near the Hoyt Arboretum and two false alarms - all in one day - kept the Portland Police Bureau’s 15-member bomb squad busy.

Just before 8 a.m. Tuesday, a man found a small explosive device in a restroom at Willamette Park, police said.

An hour later, someone in northeast Portland spotted what looked like a grenade and called police. It turned out to have no charge left.

An anonymous phone threat Tuesday afternoon led police to evacuate more than 1,100 employees from a truck company in north Portland. No bomb was found.

And about 5 p.m., a man turned in a pipe bomb found near Hoyt Arboretum at Washington Park. Police detonated the pipe bomb later in the evening in the employees’ parking lot at the Washington Park Zoo.

“These calls come in spurts,” said Lt. Cliff Madison, police spokesman.

Portland is keeping pace with the rest of the country in receiving an increasing number of calls about bombs, he said. “And we’re finding more of the devices are, in fact, real,” he said.

A suspicious package found early Wednesday inside the Tualatin post office led police to close nearby roads for three hours while the Oregon State Police robot went inside to investigate. The package turned out to be a food cooler with personal belongings inside, said Tualatin Lt. Bruce Bass.