A suspicious envelope leaking an unidentified white powdery substance at the Sun Valley Post Office triggered an emergency call to the Sun Valley Fire Department and Police Department at approximately 4:10 p.m. Wednesday, March 14. Fortunately, it proved to be a false alarm.
Upon finding the leaking envelope, Sun Valley Post Office Supervisor Dan Swanger immediately contacted both departments and within minutes the scene was inundated with emergency personnel from Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley. The Blaine County hazardous material trailer also was called in, along with representatives from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, said Sun Valley Fire Chief Jeff Carnes.
While going through forwarding mail towards the end of the day, post office employees grew skeptical when they noticed that a letter mailed from Indonesia was addressed to a name different than the one registered to the post office box, Swanger said.
While that in itself may have been suspicious, the white powder "leaking out of the envelope" raised genuine concern, Swanger said. "We knew it was some kind of powder and although it had no smell to it, we followed protocol."
After receiving the initial call, Carnes contacted the Idaho State Communication Center, which in turn organized state and federal agencies.
Postal employees had to wait it out inside the post office, while experts on the scene determined if the substance was harmful and if the employees had been contaminated.
Carnes said that prior to the identification of the powder, the resident to whom the envelope was addresses was contacted and confirmed that he was expecting a delivery of soap from Indonesia. It turned out the resident, although not listed as a holder of the P.O. box, was sharing it with another resident.
The substance turned out to be talcum powder, a harmless substance often used to combat diaper rash.
07-03-16top_story_sm.jpg Photo by Dana DuGan
