Package explodes at Toledo police HQ
Associated Press
Wed July 15, 2009
Area: Toledo
TOLEDO, Ohio - A package delivered to the Toledo Police Department downtown early Thursday afternoon exploded on the fourth floor. Two officers were possibly contaminated and treated at nearby St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.
Initially the officers that opened the package thought they saw a white powdery substance inside. It was hissing before it exploded shortly after 1 p.m.
At least two officers, a lieutenant and a detective, were affected when the package was opened. They were both transported to St. Vincent's emergency room as a precaution. Both officers were decontaminated and are being treated by physicians, a St. V spokesperson confirmed to FOX Toledo.
"When the officer opened the box there was a hissing noise that would suggest some type of gas escape when he opened the box," said Thomas Jaksetic, Toledo Fire Battalion Chief and Homeland Security spokesman.
FOX Toledo's Michelle Zepeda was inside the downtown police Safety Building while it was being cordoned off. A source within the police department told Zepeda the package possibly had narcotics inside it.
The entire fourth floor was closed off for about three hours and the elevators were shut down as a precaution. St. Vincent's ER was also locked down for about three hours as well.
"We have a well-trained staff that go through a series of procedures for decontamination when a patient does come in contact with a substance," said Dr. Greg Hymel, a St. Vincent Mercy ER physician. "We do a minimum of yearly training on this. Usually they will get washed down prior to the emergency department."
"They are kept separate from the other patients so no cross-contamination occurs," Dr. Hymel added.
The St. V emergency room physician said none of his coworkers were affected when the police officers were brought in for treatment.
Toledo fire cleared the Safety Building for reentry shortly after 4 p.m, though a portion of Erie Street near police headquarters remained closed for a while longer. The section of Erie Street was reopened at around 5 p.m.
Toledo fire, the FBI, security police from the Ohio Army National Guard, and other bomb-detecting officers are investigating the cause of the blast. At around 3:30 p.m. hazmat personnel were seen heading to the fourth floor to collect a sample of the package that exploded.
Two members of the bomb squad, along with two members of a hazmat team, entered the Safety Building and the fourth floor to investigate because they had X-ray capabilities, Jaksetic said.
"The mission was to X-ray the box and do a recon to see if we could find out any new information. They came out, made a second entry, and we monitored for combustible gasses, and radiation. We were able to do a physical examination."
Jaksetic said the four-man hazmat team recovered a portion of Styrofoam with material that turned out to be like glue.
"They were able to sample that and there was nothing out of the ordinary," he said.
Homeland Security is unsure where the gas came from. Its source was possibly from foam that expanded inside the box.
A Toledo police source told FOX Toledo marijuana was also inside the box with foam and that was the reason detectives were opening it.
An Ohio Army National Guard regiment, the 52nd Civil Support Unit, were participating with Toledo fire crews at a hazmat training facility in Walbridge at Owens Community College when they were notified of the situation in Downtown Toledo.
The ANG lent their services and sent soldiers to assist outside the Safety Building.
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