Substance In Mail Said To Be Credible Threat

Mahaska County HazMat worked with law enforcement Wednesday to help contain an unknown substance sent in a package to local business Mahaska.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Firefighters responded to Mahaska, known locally by many as Mahaska Bottling or Pepsi, shortly before 4 pm on Wednesday.

The initial call stated that a letter had been received which had a white substance on it.

Oskaloosa Fire Department, Oskaloosa Police Department, Mahaska County Emergency Management along with Mahaska Health Partnership Emergency Services made the initial response to the call.

Emergency responders were still on scene at 9:30pm Wednesday, which included Mahaska County Emergency Management and the Mahaska County HAZMAT team, which was handling the substance. Also on scene were various state and local agencies.

Oskaloosa Fire Chief Mark Neff in an interview with Oskaloosa News wanted to let the public know that there “was no cause for alarm for the general public whatsoever”.

Neff said that firefighters, after making an initial assessment, determined, “it met several of our criteria for suspicious packages. At that point, we started making some phone calls.”

“When you have a suspicious package that comes through the US Postal Service, then that triggers the mechanism for the federal authorities to come in,” said Neff of the potential threat.

Neff declined to say what the sustenance was because of the investigation currently being conducted. “We’re treating this as a credible threat at this point.”

Neff wanted to remind the public that there is no danger to the general public.

The FBI was also on the scene conducting an investigation.

Multiple departments helped at the scene, including Mahaska County Emergency Management, Oskaloosa Fire Department, Oskaloosa Police Department, Mahaska County 911 and Mahaska Health Partnership Emergency Services.