“(AP) Package that quarantined Clarksville police was dog vaccine”
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.
A suspicious package that caused emergency officials to quarantine a police station for several hours contained only a dog vaccine, investigators said Tuesday.
The area around Clarksville Police headquarters was cordoned off Monday night after the suspicious parcel containing a syringe was taken to headquarters at about 6:45 p.m.
A Clarksville resident brought in the package, which had been mailed to him from Puerto Rico, said Deputy Chief John Stanley of the Clarksville Fire Department.
Authorities shut down the station amid concerns about the potential for biological contamination, and about a dozen ...workers at the department were not allowed to leave for nearly five hours.
On the same day, a second package containing a similar syringe but mailed to a different person was taken to the fire department at the nearby Fort Campbell, Ky., Army base, Stanley said.
“This turned out to be a very innocent situation. We were able to confirm that it was fowl pox vaccination that had been sent to treat mange in a dog,” Stanley said.
A U.S. Army hazardous materials team from nearby Fort Campbell and FBI agents helped with the investigation.
There were no reports of any illness, said Steve Jones, director of Montgomery County EmergencyManagement.
Stanley said the two who had received the packages were affiliated with the military base, but they were not identified.
The liquid in the syringe was determined through identification numbers checked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Stanley said. He said he didn’t think anyone was going to be charged in the incident.
“I think it was an innocent action by these individuals. It was very time consuming, but it turned out to be a good training exercise,” Stanley said.
Those working in the police station when it was quarantined were allowed to return home about midnight after it was determined they had notbeen exposed to any biological agent.
A one-block area around the police building was opened to traffic early Tuesday.
Thanks for the update Flutters.
Thanks for the info :)
Dog vaccine? Sent accidentally?
Thank you for that follow-up flutters.
Well, it was a good training excerise for the agencies involved.