The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Two weeks ago a truck from the Washington State Patrol’s bomb squad sat in front of the Wahkiakum County Courthouse. It wasn’t until this weekend that the rumors exploded, and Sheriff Mark Howie found he had a little explaining and a lot of reassuring to do.

On July 20, a resident from another county in Washington found a brick of plastic explosives in a storage area on her property. Believing it may have a connection with an ongoing case in Wahkiakum County, the individual brought it to Howie, but not before doing a bit of sleuthing online to find out what the substance was or how safe it was to transport.

“Any other time I wouldn’t think this is that newsworthy of an article,” Howie said on Tuesday. “Police departments and sheriff’s offices take various ammunition, explosives, things like that into their custody all the time. Never at any time did I put anybody in danger.”

According to Howie, he has had more than 160 hours of training in weapons of mass destruction, hazmat identification and protocol, bio-nuclear chemical and explosive materials and 10 years as a special ammunitions response team sergeant.

“I knew from my knowledge that it appeared to be a Semtex type of material,” he said. “This stuff is manufactured to be carried in the field. It is to make bombs but it is not a bomb in and of itself. It requires a military grade blasting cap and/or other chemicals. There is a list of very unique chemicals that are needed to detonate this stuff.

“It’s not detonated under shock or vibration or dropping it or touching it or even heat,” Howie went on to say. “You can’t light it with a lighter and explode it.”

Howie placed the brick in a cool spot in his office and contacted the ATF and state patrol, going so far as

to ask the bomb squad sergeant if there was anything more he should do. Three

hours later, two bomb squad technicians arrived from Olympia.

“They picked it up,” Howie said, “handled it in my office, looked at it, everything short of taste testing it before they ran a field test outside.”

Unable to get a good reading, the brick was taken to a lab where it was later confirmed to be a form of Semtex.

Questions about the plastic explosives remain, but because of an ongoing investigation, Howie must remain mum about the matter at this time.

“It’s a rare substance to find out there,” he said. “It’s under federal control. You can’t go and buy it, so of course we are interested in where it came from. I was happy that it wasn’t anything more. Your heart always races even when you know about the properties and how safe or not they are. That’s just your initial reaction. Level heads always prevail.”