Fire chief’s joke causes HazMat scare

July 17, 2012 at 7:00p.m.

BOARDMAN

The Mahoning County HazMat team was called to two fire departments this week when envelopes containing a granular substance arrived at the stations, only to learn the substance was sand sent by the Sebring fire chief.

Sebring Fire Chief James Cannell said each year when he goes to the beach on vacation, he sends his friends a little package of sand.

“I’ve done this for years. I go to Ocean City, Md., and I send the sand back. They get this envelope, the sand falls on their desk, and they think of me,” he said.

Austintown and Canfield fire officials received the sand, and knowing of the tradition, they didn’t think anything was amiss.

But when the envelopes arrived Monday at the Boardman Fire Department’s and Western Reserve Joint Fire District’s main stations addressed to the chief, recipients were wary.

The envelopes did not list a return address and had no letter of explanation — just the sand.

Western Reserve Joint Fire District Fire Chief David C. Comstock Jr. said those things made the envelope suspect, including discovering that Boardman received an envelope as well.

“[Boardman Fire Chief] George [Brown] and I were newly added guys to the chiefs’ list this year, but there was no return address and no note. So the question asked by us was: What do Boardman and Poland have in common? It was dated July 10, so to put things in perspective that was mailed right after we each had the president visit,” Comstock said.

In addition, the letter had an out-of-state postal code.

Comstock called a member of the HazMat team to seek advice and was told HazMat would be out to test the substance.

Meanwhile, in Boardman, firefighters followed protocol and called police, who began coordinating a response with the postal inspection service. Any fire personnel who came in contact with the substance had to remain on station, per HatMat’s instruction, according to police reports.

About an hour after the letters were opened, fire officials in Boardman and Poland contacted colleagues in other departments and learned of Cannell’s tradition.