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Fire district personnel wait outside the Incline Village Post Office for the health department to arrive to determine whether a suspicous substance found leaking from a manila envelope was hazardous.
The Incline Village Post Office was evacuated shortly after 9 a.m. Monday and closed for two hours after postal employees called the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office when they noticed a white powdery substance leaking from a manila envelope.
The substance was later identified by a hazardous material specialist as cake frosting.
Sheriff’s Office and North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District officials partitioned off the post office entryway and kept people away from the premises while waiting for hazardous materials specialists from the Washoe County Health Department to arrive.
Minutes after arriving on the scene, Paul Donald, hazardous materials specialist with Washoe County, identified the substance as sugar.
Donald used a portable infrared spectrometer which has the ability to quickly identify 150,000 compounds.
After matching the spectra signature of the substance in question with that of sucrose, Donald opened the suspicious envelope and found several pieces of San Javier cake wrapped in a plastic bag.
A powdered sugar type frosting was the culprit of the white powdery substance that had caused postal employees concern.
The four postal employees who had come in some contact with the envelope were subsequently released from the ambulance where they had been asked to stay for evaluation and monitoring until the substance was identified.
Washoe County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ernie Sardella gave the OK to re-open of the post office minutes after the substance was identified. The post office was back in operation before 11 a.m.
Battalion Chief of the NLTFPD Greg McKay said the actions taken by the NLTFPD followed standard protocol: Isolate, identify and cite a specific safety plan.
“We evacuated the building, we checked out the four employees and we contacted the health department,” said McKay, who stood outside the post office in turn-out gear with fellow NLTFPD officers before the health department arrived.
McKay said this incidence is not the first time the NLTFPD has responded to a concern of an unidentified substance at Incline’ post office.
“Every couple of years (it happens),” he said. “Something looks funny or smells funny.”
Hazardous materials specialist Donald said he has gone on hundreds of calls regarding suspicious substances. In his 13 years with Washoe County, none of those calls have yet resulted in the identification of a substance that poses a public health hazard, he said.
“We’ve tested everything from dust to paper shavings to laundry soap,” Donald said.
Tim Moore, manager at the Incline Village Market said it was the first time he had seen the post off cordoned with crime tape during his two years with the market.
“It is one of those things that I am sure happens in other places around the nation, but to have it happen here ... hopefully not a common situation,” Moore said.
Information officer for the Nevada Sierra District Post Offices Roger Wagner said postal employees are trained to alert authorities in cases of a suspicious package.
“The most important thing is not to move it. They are supposed to just isolate it, put a cover on top of it — such as a tub or plastic bag,” Wagner said. “Safety is, of course, always our first issue.”
The substance was later identified by a hazardous material specialist as cake frosting.
Sheriff’s Office and North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District officials partitioned off the post office entryway and kept people away from the premises while waiting for hazardous materials specialists from the Washoe County Health Department to arrive.
Minutes after arriving on the scene, Paul Donald, hazardous materials specialist with Washoe County, identified the substance as sugar.
Donald used a portable infrared spectrometer which has the ability to quickly identify 150,000 compounds.
After matching the spectra signature of the substance in question with that of sucrose, Donald opened the suspicious envelope and found several pieces of San Javier cake wrapped in a plastic bag.
A powdered sugar type frosting was the culprit of the white powdery substance that had caused postal employees concern.
The four postal employees who had come in some contact with the envelope were subsequently released from the ambulance where they had been asked to stay for evaluation and monitoring until the substance was identified.
Washoe County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ernie Sardella gave the OK to re-open of the post office minutes after the substance was identified. The post office was back in operation before 11 a.m.
Battalion Chief of the NLTFPD Greg McKay said the actions taken by the NLTFPD followed standard protocol: Isolate, identify and cite a specific safety plan.
“We evacuated the building, we checked out the four employees and we contacted the health department,” said McKay, who stood outside the post office in turn-out gear with fellow NLTFPD officers before the health department arrived.
McKay said this incidence is not the first time the NLTFPD has responded to a concern of an unidentified substance at Incline’ post office.
“Every couple of years (it happens),” he said. “Something looks funny or smells funny.”
Hazardous materials specialist Donald said he has gone on hundreds of calls regarding suspicious substances. In his 13 years with Washoe County, none of those calls have yet resulted in the identification of a substance that poses a public health hazard, he said.
“We’ve tested everything from dust to paper shavings to laundry soap,” Donald said.
Tim Moore, manager at the Incline Village Market said it was the first time he had seen the post off cordoned with crime tape during his two years with the market.
“It is one of those things that I am sure happens in other places around the nation, but to have it happen here ... hopefully not a common situation,” Moore said.
Information officer for the Nevada Sierra District Post Offices Roger Wagner said postal employees are trained to alert authorities in cases of a suspicious package.
“The most important thing is not to move it. They are supposed to just isolate it, put a cover on top of it — such as a tub or plastic bag,” Wagner said. “Safety is, of course, always our first issue.”
