Rangers rattle town with big guns

Loud gunfire that woke and frightened Coulee Dam residents Thursday night was part of a “routine military training,” a US Army spokesman said.

The repeating racket that started about 10:30 sounded to some former military men like 50-caliber automatic weapons. Flashes from multiple gun barrels could be seen on the hillside above the Third Powerhouse on the east side of Grand Coulee Dam. And one caller reported seeing flames at the top of the north end of the powerhouse.

The weapons fire, which continued until after midnight, woke at least one couple up who called the newspaper to see if we knew what it was about.

We didn’t, but according to the army, some local leaders did.

“Every measure was taken to ensure the entire community was notified of the exercise,” wrote Capt. Alan Rosenhan of the Second Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment in an email response to a Star inquiry Tuesday evening. “The Battalion coordinated directly with Mayor of Grand Coulee Paul Townsend, Coulee Dam Training Coordinator Jim Bowen, Sheriff Kevin Morris of the Douglas County Sheriff’s office, and Sheriff Tom Jones of the Grant County Sheriff’s office.”

The exercise took place in Okanogan County, on the Colville Reservation.

Rosenhan didn’t say what types of arms the Rangers were using but noted they “used training ammunition and other training devices to make the exercise as real as possible.”

It seemed real to Bob Hendrickson, who, along with his wife, his houseguests, and their children “seriously considered fleeing the area.” Hendrickson, a 35-year resident wrote a letter seeking information from Bureau of Reclamation Power Manager Coleman Smith, at Grand Coulee Dam, which he also asked to have published on the opinion page in this issue.

“I seriously thought the dam was under attack and was not sure what to do,” Hendrickson wrote. “Large caliber machine guns are extremely loud and we are living in unprecedented and very unsettling times,” he noted, also worried that the weapons fire could cause problems for local veterans with PTSD.

Capt. Rosenhan said such exercises are routine for the battalion and that they practice in varied environments to “add realism and greater training value.”

“Safety surveys and risk assessments are thoroughly prepared before and during these exercises to ensure the safety of all military personnel and civilian communities,” he wrote.

The Grand Coulee Police Department and Colville Tribal Police each respond to law enforcement situations under contract with the Bureau of Reclamation. Rosenhan noted that members of “the Colville police department were in attendance” observing the training.