Discovery of explosives at Haines eagle preserve triggers controlled response, plane crash scare

Responding law enforcement agencies do not agree on what was found and who should investigate it

Emergency vehicles staged after emergency crews got a report of a potentially downed plane on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, near Haines. (Photo courtesy of Zak Overmyer)

By Rashah McChesney

Chilkat Valley News

A couple discovered explosives while they were hiking on the Klehini River flats last week, and subsequent bomb disposal triggered a false report of a potential plane crash. 

Derek Poinsette found the explosive device and said it appeared to be trash when he picked it up. 

“It wasn’t until we got home and unwrapped layers of electrical tape and looked at it more closely that it appeared to be possibly some sort of bomb,” he wrote in a text message. 

State park ranger Jacques Turcotte said Wednesday that what was found appeared to be a crudely made explosive device. 

“Not just [detonation] cord, rigged like an actual explosive,” he said. 

Poinsette said he called Haines police chief Jimmy Yoakum, who, in turn, contacted the Juneau Police Department’s bomb squad.  That initial call was reported on July 19. 

Yoakum said a bomb technician from Juneau and one from the FBI came to town to investigate. A state parks employee drove the two out to Poinsette’s house in the upper valley to retrieve it on July 22. 

“They did all of their pictures or whatever it is they do and then coordinated with [the Department of Transportation] to [detonate it at] the sand pit at 25 Mile,” he said. 

Residents got an emergency alert saying a controlled blast was scheduled at noon that day. 

Around that time, someone saw a white de Havilland Beaver flying low over the upper valley. The individual heard the plane making an odd noise and, after it disappeared over the horizon, they heard an explosion. They reported a potential crash, touching off a response that involved both Chilkat Valley fire departments, Alaska State Troopers, State Parks and Klukwan’s village public safety officer. 

That call came in about 1:30 p.m., and five people from the Klehini Valley Volunteer Fire Department responded, department chief Richard Gunnick said.

The crew first went to a private upper valley airstrip and talked to the person who reported the potential crash. They then headed toward Flower Mountain looking for smoke or signs of a plane crash. 

Dallas Anderson, a volunteer firefighter who also works for Constantine, asked the company for help. Soon Coastal Helicopters aircraft was involved in the search as well. 

“They had a helicopter in the air within 10 or 15 minutes,” Gunnick said. “That’s really what we needed.” 

Haines fire and ambulance crews drove the nearly 25 miles to the Klehini River bridge and highway junction, where emergency equipment was staged. Meanwhile, Haines dispatchers contacted the FAA to see whether there were any missing planes or transponder alerts. 

“We weren’t sure what was going on,” fire chief Zak Overmyer said. “The information from the caller sounded credible.” 

Eventually, someone spotted the same plane still in the air, and the search was called off.  

Overmyer called the whole incident an unfortunate timing of events, but said he was happy the person didn’t discount it and called it in, particularly because it served as good crash-response training for emergency responders.  

Gunnick said he had considered that the report was related to the day’s earlier controlled detonation. 

“Had it in the back of my head that it might be related to that,” he said. “We still had to go out and make sure.” 

Yoakum said the local police department does not handle many calls about explosives. 

“This is the second time since I’ve been here,” he said. “The first was just some seal bombs that family of a deceased [person] had from his fishing days. The family found them while they were cleaning out stuff and didn’t want to touch them.”

It’s not clear how the explosives came to be in the preserve. 

State Parks posted on social media post asking people to be on alert given that there have been other reports of explosions in the preserve this year. Multiple law enforcement agencies cautioned against handling or moving any device suspected of being an explosive. 

At least one component of the bundle Poinsette found was detonation cord, which is a type of flexible tube filled with explosive powder. It’s commonly used to synchronize explosive charges for things like drilling, demolition or mining. 

It’s highly regulated; possession requires a federal license. 

In Alaska, the state regulates when and how it can be used, how it must be stored or transported and, when it’s lost or stolen, operators are supposed to report that to the local and federal authorities within 24 hours or face up to $1,000 in fines and a year in prison. 

Juneau police department deputy chief Krag Campbell said via text Wednesday that all of the explosives were believed to be commercial-grade but “might have been put together by someone who wasn’t very knowledgeable about explosives.” 

But, he said, it’s still early in the investigation and any identification or “determination of its intended use,” is presumption at this point. 

It’s not clear which, if any, law enforcement agency is investigating the situation.  Turcotte said State Parks was not investigating. Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel said his agency was not investigating either.  Juneau Police’s Campbell said he did not believe his agency would have the jurisdiction to investigate. The FBI did not respond to multiple requests for more information about its involvement and whether the agency was investigating. 

When Yoakum was first interviewed Tuesday, he said the Haines police department was not investigating the incident and that he was told that what had been found was a bundle of detonation cord. 

After he heard it may have been a bomb, Yoakum said he reached out to several people, but by Wednesday afternoon, he said he still had not heard any new information.  

He said if one of the other agencies tells him what was actually found, and if it merits investigation, his first call will be to the Alaska State Troopers. He maintained that the borough does not have the resources to conduct that kind of investigation. 

Since at least 2017, there has been dispute over how far the Haines borough police’s jurisdiction extends and it has yet to be fully resolved. Borough assembly members and leadership have, at various times, maintained that Alaska State Troopers should be responding to borough-wide calls outside of Haines. They’ve also considered borough-wide police protection. 

Yoakum said Wednesday that as “this all occurred outside of the townsite, the police department doesn’t have anything to do with it.” 

• This article originally appeared in the Chilkat Valley News.