Middle school receives bomb threat

According to Wahkiakum County Sheriff John Mason, at approximately 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, his office "received report of a bomb threat made to the middle school." The call coming from an out-of-state number, the person issuing the threat stated, "A bomb would go off at 1 p.m." When asked for comment on the incident, Mason said, "Sheriff’s deputies and troopers from the Washington State Patrol responded to the scene. Fire and emergency medical responders were mobilized and staged by the emergency management coordinator. A local volunteer first responder was already on site and assisted throughout. The Washington State Patrol bomb squad commander was contacted and provided real-time advisement to the on-scene incident command. The threat was deemed to have very low credibility; however, the incident was treated as a high-level threat regarding the safety of all on campus as time was of the essence."

According to Mason, "all children from the elementary school and middle school were successfully evacuated from the building and taken to a reunification point." The middle and grade schools were then "swept for any remaining people or suspicious items before clearing the area."

An email was sent out from the high school, notifying parents the school would be "going into a full lockdown" and working with law enforcement "to excuse classes one at a time up to the high school" where they would "determine next steps."

According to Mason, "responders waited until approximately 1:15 p.m. before reentering the schools to conduct a search of possible bomb materials, with none found." Students were eventually reunified with parents "in systematic order provided by the school district." It was later reported that nearby Clatskanie, Ore., received a similar threat called into the elementary school at approximately 1:35 p.m. "I thank all first responders who responded and staged with selfless courage to protect our children," said Mason. "I want to highlight the efforts of the school staff who calmly and confidently evacuated and reunified the students so quickly and efficiently.