State employees were evacuated from the Colorado Department of Revenue’s downtown building this morning after mailroom workers reportedly opened an envelope containing white powder, which investigators later determined to be harmless.
Denver Fire responded to the scene shortly after 9 a.m. with a hazardous materials team, closing off streets around the building at 14th Avenue and Sherman Street and setting up a blue tent, out of which two men in protective suits emerged and entered the building to test the substance. Within two hours, the results were conclusive.
“It was a benign powder,” said Denver Fire Lt. Phil Champagne.
More than 500 state employees in the building were evacuated in waves and moved to the intersection of Sherman and 13th. Six employees who were thought to have possibly been exposed to the white substance were evacuated first and examined, said Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
“No one has any symptoms” or felt ill, Jackson said.
Department of Revenue spokesman Mark Couch said the agency receives more than 4.5 million pieces of mail a year.
“They found some white power in a mailing downstairs,” Couch said, though he said he did not know yet whether there was a note with the mailing.
