Third package ignites at Washington postal facility

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

A package addressed to the U.S. Homeland Security secretary ignited Friday at a postal facility, and authorities said it was similar to fiery parcels sent to Maryland officials a day earlier by someone complaining about the state’s terrorism tip line.

The suspicious package was discovered by an employee at the D.C. facility when it began popping and smoking, and it emitted “a brief flash of fire” before extinguishing itself, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said. The details were very much like what Maryland authorities described Thursday after workers at state government buildings opened the book-sized packages. There, the workers’ fingers were singed.

It’s not clear what ignited the package at the D.C. processing facility because the worker didn’t open it, Lanier said. No one was injured.

Authorities were bracing for more packages to surface.