MONTEREY >> Hundreds were ordered to evacuate the Army”s language school in mid-August because officials believed an instructor may have intended to blow himself up, according to communications between departments the day of the incident.

The episode took place Aug. 8 during an emergency preparedness drill involving several agencies at the Presidio of Monterey. The Presidio is the home to the Defense Language Institute.

The Herald has spoken to a man who says he is suspected of making the threat. He maintains his innocence but will not speak publicly, saying he is waiting to tell his side of the story. The Presidio has not released his name.

To date, the only information provided by the Army was that a “real world incident” took place, a suspect was in custody and there was no danger to the public.

Garrison Cmdr. Col. Paul Fellinger Jr., who made the call to evacuate the base, said this week they were acting with information they had at the time to make the best decision for the base.

Using the state Public Records Act, The Herald gathered dozens of radio, phone and dispatch conversations between multiple agencies from the event from Monterey County Emergency Communications.

A call from Monterey Fire division chief Stewart Roth to dispatch at 9:33 a.m. said the Army stated it “received threats from one of their instructors saying that he was going to strap (on) an exploding vest and show them what a real explosion looks like during the exercise.”

The chief said the threats came the night before.

Although it may have appeared something had happened the day of the drill, it”s more complicated.

CSU Monterey Bay officers were already on a stakeout on the suspects” street in Marina near the campus before 6 a.m. the day of the drill, according to dispatch reports.

The Presidio began its drill at 8 a.m.

It is unclear what exactly happened next, but the Presidio”s director of emergency operations, Shawn Marshall, said information was given to base police which concerned them. Presidio police, referencing “too much coincidence,” then called Marshall, who then spoke to Fellinger and others.

The instructor had been arrested at his office by 8:51 a.m., according to Presidio police dispatch recordings.

The instructor”s wife also taught at the school, Roth told dispatch, and the instructor got on base — presumably escaping the notice of CSUMB police — driving her Mercedes instead of his Audi.

At some point in the next 20 minutes, law enforcement became concerned about a “suspicious vehicle” and called in for a bomb squad and a bomb-sniffing dog, according to radio reports.

Shortly after, Fellinger made the call to evacuate the base.

Even as the base was evacuated, the frenzied pace continued as the FBI headed to the instructor”s Marina home about 2 p.m. to serve a search warrant to his wife, radio reports said.

As the FBI searched the residence, local law enforcement set up an incident command, with fire trucks and patrol vehicles, in a parking lot off Wainwright Drive.

The status of the investigation is unclear. Repeated attempts to reach the FBI have been unsuccessful.

Garrison command

Fellinger is a decorated colonel having served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Having taken command of the Presidio in July 2013, the August drill was his first in charge.

He said last week that the day reminded him of a day in Afghanistan; he did not know for sure the source of information — but he had to be prepared for the worst.

“You have to take action,” he said.

Unable to give detailed specifics, Fellinger said the reason the public was not told of a possible bomb threat at the base was that they found out it was not credible.

He equated the instructor situation to someone “talking smack” or locker room talk. He did not relay any further context or details of the perceived threat.

An after-action meeting was held two weeks after the event, where many of the parties involved identified a lack of communication between some areas of the base as a problem.

For instance, Fellinger said the Holiday Inn Express on base was not told of the evacuation until nearly an hour after the call was made.

Regardless, he noted the quick effort to get information to the public through Twitter and other means, as well as the hard work of many law enforcement agencies.

Marshall said in his role as the Presidio”s director of emergency operations that the base put its best foot forward.

“I have no regrets at all,” he said. “We made the right decision at the right time.”

Phillip Molnar can be reached at 726-4361.