The September 11th attack
Anthrax scares close school, delay plane
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Lokelani Intermediate School on Maui will open as usual on Monday after health and hazardous materials specialists ruled out a suspected case of anthrax.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
The school was closed yesterday after a counselor, who recalled handling mail from out of state earlier in the week, became ill.
A firefighter (in white suit) with the Honolulu Fire Department's hazardous materials unit was decontaminated yesterday by being hosed down with water after he entered a "Hot Zone" where a chemical odor was reported — a city refuse truck parked on Hotel Street across from the Straub Hospital emergency room. Also yesterday, an anthrax scare shut down an intermediate school on Maui.
Health Department officials said the man tested negative for anthrax, and the hazardous materials team found no traces of harmful substances, according to information released by the Department of Education.
On O'ahu, authorities investigated 23 suspicious substance cases yesterday, including a package received by a fifth-grade class at Kahala Elementary School.
Firefighters and police responded to 31 suspicious substance calls on Thursday, and the total number of calls since Oct. 12 reached 316 yesterday, said Fire Capt. Richard Soo.
None of the suspicious substances has tested positive for anthrax.
The Kahala students, who were preparing for a fund-raiser, were unwrapping packages from a New York vendor when they became concerned, Soo said. One box contained a letter written in Arabic.
Field tests conducted by firefighters were negative for anthrax, and the letter was taken for further laboratory analysis as an added precaution, Soo said. The fifth-graders were kept in their classroom for about an hour, and the class next to them was evacuated.
Administration was temporarily shut down, as well, Soo said, because the teacher had carried the suspicious letter to the school's office.
A room at the Pagoda Hotel was shut down temporarily and a plane to Kaua'i briefly delayed at the Honolulu airport yesterday after a maid reported finding a suspicious substance in a trash can, Soo said.
The substance in the trash can looked like cigarette ash, Soo said. The room's occupants had boarded a Hawaiian Airlines flight but it was delayed for 12 minutes while authorities interviewed them about the substance.
The occupants said it was cigarette ash.
Also, a chemical scare involving a city garbage truck sent three refuse workers to Straub Clinic and forced police to close a street near the main police station for nearly two hours. The workers said they became nauseated from a chemical odor after they picked up rubbish in the McCully area, Soo said.
The workers drove themselves to Straub and "got better once they got away from the truck," he said. Soo said the chemical was probably a solvent or paint thinner.
