Bomb threat sends Raytheon workers home

This story was published Tue, Feb 29, 2000

By the Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - About 1,000 Raytheon workers at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility were sent home early after a bomb threat Monday at the site.

A Raytheon employee received the threat at about 2:30 p.m. and Raytheon workers were evacuated at about 3.

"They were released from work as a safety precaution," saidMary Binder, an Army spokeswoman.

The plant is being built for the Army and will be used to destroy aging chemical weapons stored at the depot.

Although several law enforcement agencies were notified of the threat, Raytheon conducted its own search.

"Raytheon has established procedures and had its own teams looking through buildings on the construction site," Binder said. "They completed the search about 4:10 p.m. and did not find any explosive devices."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is expected to lead an investigation. Binder said the depot's operation center was activated and off-post communities were notified. Depot employees such as security and office personnel remained on the job.

Raytheon's second shift operations went on as scheduled and normal work operations were to resume today.

 

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