No bomb here: Device found in Post Falls park believed to be firework
CAROLYN BOSTICK | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 months AGO
Carolyn Bostick has worked for the Coeur d’Alene Press since June 2023. She covers Shoshone County and Coeur d'Alene. Carolyn previously worked in Utica, New York at the Observer-Dispatch for almost seven years before briefly working at The Inquirer and Mirror in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Since she moved to the Pacific Northwest from upstate New York in 2021, she's performed with the Spokane Shakespeare Society for three summers. | July 18, 2024 1:07 AM
POST FALLS — A small device believed to be a bomb set off a large response Wednesday morning, shutting down Corbin Park and bringing out deputies, firefighters and a bomb disposal unit.
Law enforcement now believes it to be a firework.
“Deputies were able to obtain photographs of the firework from afar and send it to the Spokane Police bomb squad, and the bomb squad confirmed it was a device, responded and rendered it as being safe,” said Kootenai County Sheriff's Office Undersheriff Brett Nelson.
The device was discovered around 8 a.m. at Corbin Park in Post Falls, leading to the temporary shutdown of park operations.
Deputies from KCSO and Kootenai County Fire and Rescue responded as more information was collected about the device, which was found on rocks at the beach.
A park employee turned away visitors for more than two hours as the device was analyzed by Spokane Police Department's Explosives Disposal Unit.
The device was determined to be safe at 10 a.m. and emergency personnel began to leave the area.
Nelson said the device is believed to be a type of firework. A photo from KCSO showed much of the firework was obscured by black tape, except for the fuse.
Visitors were allowed back into the park shortly before 11 a.m. Park staff said they were told by first responders the device was still deemed hazardous.
Nelson said KCSO believes the firework may be an M-80 and is investigating the device's origins.