By Jacob Conde
The Utah County and Provo bomb squads detonated a suspicious cooler left unattended by the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center Wednesday afternoon, July 28.
About 11:30 a.m., hospital employees noticed the cooler. After repeated attempts to contact the owner, hospital officials decided to implement emergency procedures. They moved a few patients away from the area and called the Provo police.
After X-raying the cooler, bomb squad officials were unable to determine if there was a threatening object inside. To be safe, they decided to detonate the cooler away from the hospital. A specialized robot retrieved the cooler and carried it to the far corner of the campus. At 2:40 p.m. police stopped traffic along 500 West and, with shouts of “fire in the hole,” detonated the cooler, revealing no bomb or otherwise harmful material.
Even though there was no bomb inside, Mary Ann Young, the hospital administrator, said she was grateful for the efforts and quick response of law enforcement personnel and the fire department.
“We always err on the side of public safety,” Young said. “We always take these types of threats seriously.”
Young also said there was no disruption to the emergency unit. Hospital personnel moved about 10 patients out of the area for their own safety. Young said there were no difficulties as a result of any patient movement.
Captain Brad Leatham of the Provo Police Department spoke with reporters after the detonation. He said given global events today, it is necessary to be careful with any possible threats.
“We have a tendency to look at what”s happening [in the world],” Leatham said. “We treat it like an actual device until we can prove it isn”t.”
While not saying what was in the cooler, Leatham said there was nothing harmful or suspicious inside. However, finding it by a hospital immediately made law enforcement very cautious with it.
In addition, Leatham also said there have been between 15 and 20 times this year when the bomb squad has been called in to investigate suspicious circumstances. In each case there turned out not to be a bomb present.
However Julie Howard, spokeswoman for the hospital, said since she started working for the hospital 7 years ago, there have been no bomb scares. The hospital practices disaster drills twice a year to be prepared for situations like this.
