It wasn’t a pipe bomb that shut down the Factoria Transfer Station — it was a mole killer
Mar 18, 2021, 4:09 PM | Updated: 4:11 pm
A police officer stopped traffic from entering the Factoria Transfer Station on Wednesday while the bomb squad was investigating what appeared to be pipe bombs. (Bellevue Police)
(Bellevue Police)
A from the Bellevue Police Department on Thursday speaks to all those who’ve dealt with moles.
It was an update to a report of a suspicious package on Wednesday at the Factoria Transfer Station. The discovery prompted the evacuation of said transfer station. The bomb squad neutralized what appeared to be two pipe bombs.
Bellevue Police investigated the situation and learned that the pipe bombs weren’t really intended to prompt an evacuation at the Factoria Transfer Station. Instead, they were devices that a homeowner built to rid his yard of moles.
The homemade mixture inside the pipes was meant to create a plume to kill the moles, according to police.
Instead, a tube ruptured and seriously hurt the homeowner. He was rushed to the hospital with a hand injury. While away, his wife, not really knowing what the devices were, took them to the transfer station to get rid of them.
Employees called police when they saw the devices and learned that one of them had exploded.
I don’t want to make light of this because several people, mostly the man whose hand is injured, had their Wednesday ruined. But somewhere someone is chronicling all the different ways that ridding our yard of moles has ruined a weekend — or even worse, caused a serious injury.
Dad, if you鈥檙e reading, no more pitchforks in the backyard.
