An unknown caller’s bomb threat forced the brief evacuation of much of Powell Valley Hospital on Saturday night.

Powell police were summoned to the hospital just after 9:30 p.m. after a hospital staffer received a phone call saying there was a device in the building, said Powell Police Chief Tim Feathers.

Robin Roling, vice president for patient care services, said a decision to evacuate is made after a joint discussion between the administrator on duty and the Powell Police Department.

“In this instance, I was the administrator on call,” she said.

Citing the ongoing investigation, Roling declined to say what areas and departments were evacuated and how long the evacuation lasted.

Feathers said the medical/surgery floor was evacuated. He wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but said people were able to return to the building “fairly quickly.”

Police and hospital staff followed their respective emergency protocols to make sure the building was secure, which included staff checking their work areas for anything out of the ordinary, Feathers said.

Had police found any suspicious objects, the Cody Police Department’s bomb squad would have been summoned.

Police wrapped up their on-scene investigation and left the hospital about an hour and a half after their arrival.

“We take them (bomb threats) very seriously,” Feathers said, adding that under state law, “Whether there’s a device or not, if you make the threat of a device it’s a crime.”

Roling said she has no residual concerns since the incident.

Feathers met with the Powell Valley Hospital District Board in a closed-door session on Monday night to brief them on the incident and review the response.

Speaking to the Tribune on Tuesday, he said the response went “pretty well.”

“The evacuation was activated pretty quickly, carried out very smoothly and once the decision was made to bring people back into the building, again, that went pretty smoothly,” he said.

Roling said the evacuation was orderly and without panic.

“It was a definite demonstration of teamwork,” she said.

Citing the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation, Feathers declined to provide details of the incident, including exactly what the caller said, if it was a male or female voice, if police know what number the call was placed from or if there is a suspect.

He did say police are investigating whether Saturday night’s bomb threat at the hospital is connected to a bomb threat called in to a private Powell residence Tuesday, Aug. 16.

“Obviously, this is not the type of call we get frequently,” so any two calls in the same week “automatically” trigger an investigation into a possible connection, Feathers said.