Device that caused highway closure resembled a pipe bomb

By Terry Murry on Wednesday, May 19th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

UMATILLA COUNTY – A suspicious-looking device was discovered by a fisherman over the weekend. The angler had found some old ammunition containers and opened one of them, then called 911. The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office responded to the incident in the vicinity of Highway 730.

“The container had some plastic bottles in it and some of the caps had been modified, had electrical wires coming out of them, and some liquid inside, so potentially a pipe-type bomb,” Undersheriff Jim Littlefield said.

The Oregon State Police Bomb Squad was called and reported to the scene. He said the squad determined the device was not as harmful as it looked and rendered it safe.

“Highway 730 was shut down for several hours,” Littlefield said. “I think they finally opened it up around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and this all kicked off at about 10 in the morning.”