MedicCook
11-10-2005, 08:26 AM
I sure had fun standing in the rain for 2+ hours.
SARATOGA SPRINGS - A mailed bag of Chinese noodles and a cryptic note triggered a hazardous materials response Wednesday at Spring Hill Waldorf's high school on Regent Street.
No one was injured and no hazardous materials were found, though.
"It tested negative for everything," said Mike Aufiero, chief of the county's Haz-Mat response unit, which backed up city firefighters.
Firefighters and police were on the scene for more than two hours. Police barricaded Regent Street south of Union Avenue near Regent's intersection with White Street.
A school office worker who opened the package at about 11:30 a.m. reported itching and numbness shortly afterward, said Saratoga Springs Police Detective Lt. Gary Forward.
The woman went to Saratoga Hospital for a checkup, but didn't require treatment, he said.
"She only came in contact with the outside of the baggie," Forward said. "She never came into contact with the contents."
City Fire Capt. Robert Williams said the noodles were in a plastic sandwich bag, not manufacturer's packaging. The envelope had no return address but it was postmarked from New York City and contained a note.
"It just asked a bunch of questions about Chinese food: 'What do they put in Chinese food? Do you know what's in their sauce?,' Williams said.
"There must have been seven or nine questions. It fit our definition of suspicious."
Forward said city police secured the package. It will get further analysis, either at the state police laboratory in Albany or by a National Guard unit based at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Glenville.
The school's 50 students - grades 9 through 12 - were kept in their classrooms while firefighters and police were on the scene.
Officials at the private school said they'd called parents and planned to send a letter home Wednesday night.
Forward said Skidmore College opened the cafeteria at nearby Moore Hall for Waldorf parents as a comfortable place to get out of the rain.
Aufiero compared Wednesday's incident with Friday night, when the Haz-Mat team responded to calls of a substance eating through a woman's clothing at Wilton Mall. No substance was found there, he said.
It was the second time authorities evacuated parts of the mall in a week.
City Police Lt. Chris Cole said Wednesday's response wasn't for nothing, though.
"This is the best kind of training," he said. "We test everything out and nobody got hurt."
The Saratogian (http://www.saratogian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15549628&BRD=1169&PAG=461&dept_id=17708&rfi=6)
SARATOGA SPRINGS - A mailed bag of Chinese noodles and a cryptic note triggered a hazardous materials response Wednesday at Spring Hill Waldorf's high school on Regent Street.
No one was injured and no hazardous materials were found, though.
"It tested negative for everything," said Mike Aufiero, chief of the county's Haz-Mat response unit, which backed up city firefighters.
Firefighters and police were on the scene for more than two hours. Police barricaded Regent Street south of Union Avenue near Regent's intersection with White Street.
A school office worker who opened the package at about 11:30 a.m. reported itching and numbness shortly afterward, said Saratoga Springs Police Detective Lt. Gary Forward.
The woman went to Saratoga Hospital for a checkup, but didn't require treatment, he said.
"She only came in contact with the outside of the baggie," Forward said. "She never came into contact with the contents."
City Fire Capt. Robert Williams said the noodles were in a plastic sandwich bag, not manufacturer's packaging. The envelope had no return address but it was postmarked from New York City and contained a note.
"It just asked a bunch of questions about Chinese food: 'What do they put in Chinese food? Do you know what's in their sauce?,' Williams said.
"There must have been seven or nine questions. It fit our definition of suspicious."
Forward said city police secured the package. It will get further analysis, either at the state police laboratory in Albany or by a National Guard unit based at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Glenville.
The school's 50 students - grades 9 through 12 - were kept in their classrooms while firefighters and police were on the scene.
Officials at the private school said they'd called parents and planned to send a letter home Wednesday night.
Forward said Skidmore College opened the cafeteria at nearby Moore Hall for Waldorf parents as a comfortable place to get out of the rain.
Aufiero compared Wednesday's incident with Friday night, when the Haz-Mat team responded to calls of a substance eating through a woman's clothing at Wilton Mall. No substance was found there, he said.
It was the second time authorities evacuated parts of the mall in a week.
City Police Lt. Chris Cole said Wednesday's response wasn't for nothing, though.
"This is the best kind of training," he said. "We test everything out and nobody got hurt."
The Saratogian (http://www.saratogian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15549628&BRD=1169&PAG=461&dept_id=17708&rfi=6)