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Courtney Orton and Tom Callan reportingEmployees who work in the FBI building in downtown Salt Lake were evacuated this morning because of the possible threat of a deadly chemical. A federal employee discovered the suspicious substance while opening mail.
The building was reopened this afternoon, but for a time this morning, HAZMAT teams were the only ones allowed in so they could remove the white, powdery substance that was discovered inside an envelope on the 12th floor.
"The fire alarm went off. No one indicated that it was a drill, and so we took it seriously and we came outside the building," explained Ken Cluff, who works in the FBI building.
Mark Dean, who also works in the building, said, "It doesn't appear to be a fire. There's no smoke or anything like that. But they don't seem to act like it's some kind of a drill. They seem to act, like, serious about it."
It wasn't a drill, and it definitely wasn't a fire. It was instead a suspicious substance found by a federal employee who was opening incoming mail.
The mail was opened in a specialized container, which is procedure for all mail that comes in. The employee was wearing a specialized hood and gloves to protect himself from hazardous material when he noticed white powder fall out of a piece of hate mail.
"The employee immediately followed procedure. [He] withdrew from there, took the gloves off and immediately went in, closed the door and contained the mail to the specific filter and vent that works this type of material," explained FBI spokesman Juan Baccera.
Scott Freitag, spokesman for the Salt Lake City Fire Department, said, "The employee was reported to not have any powder on him whatsoever, as he was using his procedures to use the device to open mail."
Authorities say those procedures ensured the safety of all of the employees inside the building at the time. "We feel we have contained it. We feel we have followed our safety procedures as they are outlined," Bacerra said.
The powder-type substance was taken out of the building by HAZMAT crews for testing. The FBI says results of those tests will not come back for 48 hours. The agency is also looking into where the piece of mail came from.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com
