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Powdery substance in Rowlett post office found to be gypsum
Employees at the Rowlett post office were evacuated shortly after 9:30 a.m. Friday as a white, powdery substance was discovered. The substance was tested and determined to be gypsum, a non-toxic drywall substance. / Photo courtesy of Real Estate Expo
By BRIAN PORTER Managing Editor
ROWLETT -- The discovery of a white, powdery substance beside a carrier’s case along a conveyor belt Friday morning resulted in the evacuation of the U.S. post office in Rowlett, located at Rowlett Road and Enterprise Drive.
The substance was noted by a post office employee at about 9 a.m. About four hours after the discovery, testing determined the substance was gypsum.
“You might know gypsum as drywall material,” said postal inspector Amanda McMurrey. “Whenever someone gets ill or we find something like this, we have to close the post office.”
“It could have been that in shipping we had a package pick it up,” McMurrey said. “It may have, oddly enough, come out of a package. We don’t know.”
The Rowlett Police and Fire Departments were first to respond to the call placed at 9:31 a.m. to the Rowlett 9-1-1 emergency call center. The Garland Regional Response Team, contracted to respond to explosive and chemical or biological agent calls in Mesquite, Rowlett and a six county area in North Texas, removed a sampling of the chemical and tested the substance on the scene.
“About 25 employees in processing were those exposed to the substance,” said Craig Kelly, Rowlett manager of public information. “The rest of the employees were also evacuated.”
The number of total employees working in the Rowlett post office was not available, but was estimated at 45.
The powdery substance was analyzed and determined not to be dangerous.
One woman was hospitalized briefly with an allergic reaction to the substance. She was transported to an area clinic and then to Baylor Medical Center at Garland by a supervisor.
Because of the nature of the investigation, an agent from the FBI was also called onto the scene.
“There’s a lot of man hours put into these type calls,” McMurrey said. “That, and a lot of lost time for the post office.”
McMurrey indicated the post office could re-open within the day Friday and resume normal operations. The emergency command post, located along Enterprise Drive, closed at about 12:45 p.m. The post office had not resumed regular business at that time.
The parking lot of the post office, located adjacent to Enterprise Drive, was closed during the investigation, as was Enterprise Drive. Neighboring businesses on Enterprise Drive were not evacuated.
“In general, we strongly suggest (to the public) to make the call,” McMurrey said. “Don’t touch, taste or smell it. Call us in.
“We called in the FBI in the case that it was an actual contamination powder, as a precautionary measure.”
The city of Rowlett recently participated in a regional emergency preparedness trial, in which municipalities are provided such staged emergencies.
“Everything went smoothly,” Kelly said. “We went through the exercise (June 19 to 20). I didn’t see any hitches today. It puts us to test and we were prepared for the proper people to respond.”
Contact managing editor Brian Porter at 972-725-1948 or brian.porter@scntx.com.
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