Anyone else get evacuated from work around three fourty five this after noon?
Apparently there was a bomb threat at the post office.
Wow traffic was really backed up even for Podunk. I think it was rather dangerous the way traffic was congested.
yeah its a police state down town…
work at ocean center and it was emptied at around that time…
sad way to keep police busy…
Yeah I was evacuated from Ocean Center too, I’m in the Theater on the Edge program.
I wonder if we will be able to get back in for the evening shift.
They’ve got officers just before the RCMP Station on McBride redirecting traffic east and west, an off duty on 6th W and Borden redirecting traffic towards Roosevelt. Officers blocking 2nd Ave and 5th Street, 3rd Ave and 5th Street, Fulton and 5th Avenue W!!!
I almost shed a tear, it appears our tiny town has arrived LOL. Our own bomb threat ROFL. I heard it may be BC Wide though?
How would someone do a BC wide bomb threat anyways?
“hey yeah, theres a bomb in a package and I don’t know where it is now.”
Oh well, got off work early.
The bomb threat was apparently at DFO, the Post office is in that building.
According to The Mix five oclock news, bomb threats were called into DFO offices up and down the coast, with the local one supposed to have gone off at 3:30.
Since the building is still standing, we can gather it was a hoax I guess.
Made for a nice exercise though, particularly helpful if we ever have a tsunami I guess. Though some of the folks directing traffic might need a refresher course, there was some serious confusion in a few spots…
Though I suspect they were stretched a little thin, if everyone would have been directing traffic who would be looking for the supposed bomb?
LMAO 
Zellers was evacuated and closed around 4:25 or so… and they told the rest of the mall to evacuate at 5pm. We were told we could go back in 4 hours to do our closing procedures as it was that important for us to get out.
I’m glad the RCMP had everything under control traffic wise once we were done… downtown looked like an early Sunday morning with barely anyone around.
Does it have anything to do with the huge helicopter flying around?
Could be Jack Bauer is aboard…
Though to be serious, if as a precaution they needed a bomb squad person they would have to bring one in from out of town, so a helicopter out of Comox would make the most sense I guess.
Now what we need to know is who called in the threats?
One like that? Most definately.
I’m just in the process of trying to sell a few of my shots to the National Papers but here’s a LOW res sample of a few shots I got off before being removed from the scene.
I’ll give access to high res and a larger number of them on my website later on Thursday.
www.flickr.com/photos/zpaperboyz
[attachments over a year old automatically deleted]
Lots of rumours out there but one of my media sources has confirmation the threat was on 3 locations in Prince Rupert. My contacts at the Sun news desk hadn’t heard about it being a BC wide threat so I would ignore that rumour.
If we’re looking for suspects there’s a suspicious looking bear looking down on things from across third Avenue!!
From bclocalnews.com/news/17879164.html :
RCMP shut down downtown core following threat at federal building
By Shaun Thomas - The Northern View - April 17, 2008
Prince Rupert RCMP and the Prince Rupert RCMP fire department blocked off a large section of downtown on Thursday afternoon.
Shaun Thomas
The Prince Rupert RCMP and fire department blocked off a large section of downtown and evacuated businesses along a two block radius on 2nd and 3rd Avenue beginning shortly after 3:30 p.m. as they responded to a threat at the federal building.
While RCMP have yet to give specifics of the event, The Northern View can confirm that officers and dogs entered and searched the building, including the roof. Meanwhile businesses from Fulton to 2nd Street were evacuated along both streets, including Zellers in the mall, and traffic was blocked from McBride right past Fulton. Pedestrians were stopped by fire personnel and RCMP beginning at 2nd street.
Look for more on this story as it becomes available here at thenorthernview.com.
The RCMP posted the following to their information website at 7:30 tonight
Prince Rupert - Prince Rupert RCMP Investigate Bomb Threat to Government Building File #2008-4157 2008-04-17 19:32 PDT
2008-4157
April 17th - 1941 hours
At approximately 3pm on Thursday, April 17th, 2008, Prince Rupert R.C.M.P. were alerted to a bomb threat to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans located in the 400 block of 2nd Avenue West in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The building houses the offices of Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada Post and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The building and its surrounding area were evacuated and a perimeter was established preventing foot and vehicle access to the building’s vicinity.
A preliminary search of the building and its surrounding area was conducted and R.C.M.P. are currently awaiting the arrival of a Police Dog Service dog who is trained in explosive detection. The area continues to be blocked to all foot and vehicle traffic. The Prince Rupert R.C.M.P. would like to thank the public for their patience and will continue to take all precautionary steps to ensure public safety.
Investigation into the bomb threat continues. Police are currently following up on tips they have received and will exhaust all avenues in order to ensure a full and thorough investigation. Anyone with any information regarding this bomb threat is asked to contact the Prince Rupert R.C.M.P. at (250)-627-0700 or, if you wish to remain anonymous, call Crimestoppers at 250-627-TIPS (627-8477).
All media inquiries related to this incident should be directed to Cst. Vrolyk. Cellular - 250-622-7700.
Cst. Krista VROLYK
Media Relations Officer
Prince Rupert R.C.M.P.
I guess your contacts were off a bit – 3 locations across BC, not across Rupert.
From the Vancouver Sun:
Bomb threats prompt mass evacuations
Kelly Sinoski
Vancouver Sun
Friday, April 18, 2008
VANCOUVER – Bomb threats to Department of Fisheries and Oceans offices in Vancouver, Nanaimo and Prince Rupert Thursday afternoon led to mass evacuations of the government offices in all three cities.
Hundreds of people left the DFO offices after someone reportedly called in the threat to staff members at the individual sites shortly after 3 p.m.
Police officers, fire officials and bomb-sniffing dogs were called in to search each of the offices, but no bombs were located. The offices were expected to reopen today.
“There was a threat; as a result of the threat we evacuated the building as an employee and public safety measure,” DFO spokesman Terry Davis said Thursday.
As for who would call in such a threat, he said: “We have no idea.”
Employees in Vancouver’s 18-floor Burrard Street building, which includes Environment Canada, were advised over the public address system to leave in an orderly fashion.
The building was then swept to ensure no one was left behind before it was locked down.
“When I left the building there had been no sign of an explosive device being discovered all,” Davis said.
In Prince Rupert, police and fire officials cordoned off a one-block area on Second Avenue in the downtown commercial district after the bomb threat to the DFO offices there. The DFO offices as well neighbouring city hall and several shops and residences were evacuated.
RCMP Insp. Bob Kilbery said no bombs were found in an initial search, but about a dozen police officers and fire officials remained on the site Thursday night and a bomb-sniffing dog was taken through as an extra precaution.
“We’ll stay there until we’re sure it’s safe,” Kilbery said.
In Nanaimo, hundreds of federal employees were also told to leave their offices Thursday afternoon, after a bomb threat was reportedly called into that city’s DFO office.
Police and fire crews closed off both the Pacific Biological Station and most of Front Street shortly after 3 p.m.
“It was quite organized,” biological station scientist Jim Irvine said of the evacuation. “There was certainly no panic.”
Irvine said Thursday’s incident was a first in the 20 years he’s worked at the biological station.
This year the station is celebrating its centennial, with events planned for next week.
“We certainly hope this sort of scare wouldn’t disrupt a community public education event,” said Irvine.
With files from the Nanaimo Daily News
awwww there were more 
I thought we were special for once.
Well 3rd got blocked off again by Northern health.
They were still down there a half hour ago.