WA Fire Station Window Shattered by Metal Smoking Pipe

MOUNT VERNON, WA—Mount Vernon Fire Chief Bryan Brice is considering his department lucky no one was injured after a window was shattered when a metal pipe used for smoking was thrown into the downtown fire station.

The Mount Vernon Police Department was called to the fire station shortly after 7 a.m. to a report that a man had thrown a metal pipe used for smoking through one of the station’s windows and into a firefighter’s sleeping quarters.

The pipe went through a screen and the single-pane glass, sending shattered glass into the room, including onto the bed.

Brice said at the time the room was unoccupied. If it had been a different shift, that might not have been the case, he said.

“In this case, it was a small item that was thrown through a center window when no one was in here,” Brice said. “My concern is: What happens next time?”

He said the incident highlights some of the ongoing safety concerns the department has about the aging downtown station, including safety for its firefighters.

“He could have broken this window and come in and done something further,” Brice said. “How are we protecting the firefighters to make sure that we’re at least trying to minimize the opportunity for harm to occur?”

Built in 1964, the building has few security features such as fences to keep people out. Because of the building’s age and the materials used to build it, the department is limited in what it can do for security upgrades, Brice said.

The 45-year-old suspect was arrested and booked into the Skagit County Community Justice Center for investigation of third-degree malicious mischief.

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©2020 the Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon, Wash.)

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