Powder at INS appears nontoxic

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By HILARY KINDSCHUH / Lincoln Journal Star

Powder found in the mail at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices in Lincoln Tuesday morning field-tested negative for hazardous biological and chemical substances.

The substance, which an employee found with an employment application, will be taken to the state public health laboratory at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha for further testing, said Bruce Dart, director of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department.

Results should be in in about 72 hours, Dart said Tuesday.

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The hazmat lead team leaves the Immigration Services building Tuesday morning. (Robert Becker)

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Health dept. says tests are negative

A suspicious powder found in the mail at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices in Lincoln Tuesday field tested negative for hazardous ...

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Lincoln Fire Chief Niles Ford said an employee found the white powdery substance in an envelope at about 8 a.m. on the second floor.

Three hundred to 350 employees remained inside for the next three hours as fire and rescue crews, Hazmat workers and officials from the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department responded. As is standard procedure in such situations, federal authorities were alerted of the situation, the fire chief said.

Deputy Fire Chief Dean Staberg said 47 Lincoln Fire & Rescue workers responded, as did 22 vehicles,  including seven firetrucks and engines, two ambulances, one hazmat unit and one decontamination unit.

Three off-duty fire and rescue workers were called in to help, so the incident was not a big expense for the department, and, fortunately, the department didn’t get many additional calls for service during the morning, he said.

The health department’s mobile hazmat rig also responded, Dart said. That’s where the substance was field-tested.

Once inside, authorities controlled the building’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system on the second floor so there was no potential for the substance to be airborne, Staberg said.

Officials lifted the quarantine around 11:15 a.m., Dart said. No one exhibited any symptoms.

It is the second time in just more than two years the offices have been evacuated.

On June 9, 2005, a white powder found in a file room in the building prompted the evacuation of 600 federal employees. During that incident, nine employees went to the hospital complaining of light-headedness, scratchy throats and watery eyes. Employees spent about five hours quarantined in a University of Nebraska-Lincoln parking garage and classroom. The substance was later determined to not be life-threatening.

Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com.