Fake dynamite closes Highway 97 near Harrison

Kootenai County Sheriff’s deputies closed down Highway 97 just north of Harrison for four hours Thursday evening after a woman reported a possible bomb.

Deputies called in the bomb squad from Spokane County and evacuated the area surrounding the building at 542 Sunset Terrace as a precaution after six to eight tubes appearing to be dynamite were discovered, Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said.

However, once the investigators tracked down the woman’s 18-year-old son, they discovered that the alleged bomb was made of empty cardboard tubes connected to a small clock, Wolfinger said.

The son told police that he found it at a dump in Benewah County. Wolfinger said the man did not mean for the fake bomb to cause a disturbance and that no crime was committed.

From the start, sheriff’s officials questioned whether the sticks were dynamite because they were labeled as such.

“Nobody – including the bomb squad – knows of anyone who writes ‘dynamite’ on sticks of dynamite,” Wolfinger said.

The bomb squad was called off after the teen was found.

“You’ve got to treat it for real,” Wolfinger said. “The first time you don’t and it is, you’re in deep stuff.”