A hazmat team responded to a suspicious letter at the United States Postal Service office downtown Friday afternoon, but crews did not detect anything hazardous in preliminary testing.
That’s according to Jeff Fleming, the mayor’s spokesperson, as well as a postal inspector and a fire official, who spoke to reporters about 1 p.m. Friday.
No roads outside the post office, at 345 W. St. Paul Ave., were closed, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter at the scene.
Milwaukee Fire Lt. Carlos Velazquez Sanchez said the focus was on an unknown powder. It was deemed a non-dangerous substance. Everything it was tested for came back negative, he said, but crews did not know what it was. In situations like this, he said, things are tested for biological, chemical, radioactive and other contaminants.
Firefighters and crews from the Milwaukee Hazmat Regional Response Team were seen walking out of the post office about 1 p.m. Crews were dressed in white protective jumpsuits, masks and carrying tanks on their backs. Several Milwaukee Fire Department trucks that were parked outside the building had departed by 1:20 p.m.
Francis Pilon, supervisor with US Postal Service Inspection Service, said officials intercepted the letter this morning. He also said it’s part of a criminal investigation, and that multiple locations may be involved.
Additional testing on the substance will take place, officials said.
