Southern Marin Fire Protection District, CA
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Incident Report For 8/23/21
Post Date:08/24/2021 2:48 PM
On Monday, August 23, 2021 at approximately 0830 Station 1 Captain notified B3 of a suspicious package outside the building set up against the apparatus door in front of our ambulance M1. The package was approximately 1x3ft and had writing on the outside stating "Hazmat Radiological Substance". A full Hazmat response was requested. Station 1 crew, E7, E16 from Central Marin (Hazmat Technician) and Hazmat 1 were dispatched to the scene. Additionally an ambulance from Tiburon was requested to the scene to be on standby.
The Marin County Hazmat Team arrived and surveyed the box receiving a low Alpha reading from the package but noticed an additional metal box inside the cardboard box. At this time B3 had arrived on scene and took command requesting the Berkeley Bomb squad to the scene. All Hazmat efforts were stopped until we could determine if the device was a bomb.
Unified command was established with Sausalito Police Department and the area surrounding the station (330 Johnson St. and adjacent businesses) were evacuated and cordoned off. The Berkeley Bomb squad arrived on scene and proceeded to take an X-ray picture of the box. Based on the photo they continued with caution to further determine the contents of the box.
Once the box was opened it was found to contain an old microwave with "Radiological Substance" written on a piece of paper attached to the microwave. Inside the microwave was an additional box which contained an old camera lens. The Hazmat team took additional readings and found the source of Alpha Rays to be coming from the old camera lens. The levels were low and it was determined no hazard.
All fire units cleared the scene and Station 1 was put back in service. The scene was turned over to Sausalito PD for further investigation into who left the box. It was believed to be a hoax. The incident lasted close to 4 hours in duration.
Thank you to our law enforcement partners for their diligent work and ease of working under a unified command.
SAFETY REMINDER
Southern Marin Fire Protection District would like to remind all residents that in Marin County we have a variety of recycle and disposal services. Leaving an unmarked package at a public building without making contact with any of the employees, would naturally lead to the type of response we had yesterday. Residents should be reminded that essentially this takes valuable resources away from incidents where firefighters and police officers may be needed, as well as, committing a significant amount of resources to this incident due to its potential threat.