HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – A Hidden Valley Lake resident's discovery of an unusual item in the mail led to a hazmat response on Wednesday afternoon.
              
Battalion Chief Mike Wink of Cal Fire and the South Lake County Fire Protection District said district personnel were dispatched to a possible hazmat situation at the mailboxes on Hartmann Road at 3:45 p.m.

He said a local resident opened some mail, found an unknown substance wrapped in plastic that they were not expecting.

“That's when they called us,” said Wink.

In such cases, Wink said they have to assume the worst – that it might be a dangerous substance – and mount a full response.

Numerous local agencies responded to the incident, Wink said.

In addition to Cal Fire and South Lake County Fire, the Lake County Sheriff's Office, Lake County Fire Protection District, the Lake County Hazmat Team and the US Postal Service's Middletown postmaster were on the scene.

As the hazmat team worked to identify the substance, “We had to isolate the area,” Wink noted, which meant that residents were unable to get their mail.

The hazmat team was able to determine that the substance was not hazardous, and the incident was terminated in about two hours, or just before 6 p.m., said Wink.

Wink said the US Postal Service is continuing its own investigation into the substance and its presence in the mail.

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