A STREET in Nowra was closed down for more than an hour and Fire and Rescue NSW personnel donned hazmat suits after a local legal firm raised concerns about a suspicious package received in the mail on Wednesday morning.
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RMB Lawyers and the IMB Building Society on the corner of Kinghorne Street and Smiths Lane were evacuated around 9.45am after a staff member at the legal firm opened a letter which contained a suspicious package.
Staff raised concerns about the package and notified police and Fire and Rescue NSW.
Fire crews from Shoalhaven and Nowra brigades attended the building, established an exclusion zone around the area and blocked the roadway to traffic.
Personnel donned hazmat clothing, including breathing apparatus, to inspect the package, which was placed into a specially designed container and removed.
The item was given to police and taken to Sydney for forensic analysis.
After about an hour the scene was declared safe and staff members from both businesses were allowed to resume work and the laneway was reopened to traffic.
Fire and Rescue NSW Shoalhaven station officer Glenn Edwards said staff suffered no ill effects from the incident.
“We take it as a serious incident and follow procedures such as evacuating staff, setting up a hot zone. We had personnel in hazmat clothing and breathing apparatus analyse the package and take a sample,” he said.
“We decontaminated the area around it and the sample was handed to police and taken to their forensic lab for testing to find out what it was.”
