PoCo fire chief Nick Delmonico suggested a bag of sugar left on a transit bus that had hazmat crews called out Wednesday night, might have been a prank.
Photograph by: NOW , file
What started out as a hazardous materials situation turned out to be nothing more than a substance that causes cavities in teeth.
Port Coquitlam fire crews, a hazmat team and Coquitlam Mounties were called to the PoCo bus loop on Kingsway Avenue around 11 p.m.
Wednesday after a suspicious bag containing white powder was found on a bus by a cleaning crew.
The fire department started its hazardous materials protocol, assuming a couple of employees at the depot had been exposed to a dangerous substance.
It was determined the powder was just sugar.
"It may have been put there to look that way, as a prank, but it ended up turning out to be nothing," said PoCo fire chief Nick Delmonico.
"So it was a lot of emergency personnel going for either a joke or a prank."
Though RCMP did attend the scene, there is no ongoing investigation into the incident.
It's not the first time this year hazmat crews in the TriCities have been called after someone spotted a white substance on a transit bus.
In May, the bus loop at Coquitlam Centre was shut down for hours after a bus driver and two passengers reported feeling ill and a white substance was discovered on the bus.
The powder also turned out not to be hazardous, but several passengers were quarantined as a precaution.
jdeutsch@thenownews.com
