BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A suspicious letter prompted a scare at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office in Vermont on Wednesday. The letter, found in the building on Burlington’s Church Street that houses Sanders’ office, had an unknown substance inside.
There was a large emergency response. The Vermont State Hazmat Response Team said they were called in by the Burlington Fire Department, and they were able to determine within 30 minutes of arriving that the white powder in the letter was not hazardous, though they wouldn’t tell us what the powder was.
It has not yet been confirmed whether the letter was delivered to the senator’s office, but we do know that Sanders is currently in Washington, D.C., not at his Vermont office.
We tried to get inside but were denied access.
Emergency crews on the scene earlier told us even with false alarms, things like this are always taken very seriously.
“There’s obviously been a history in the past where there have been events that appeared to be something along these lines and they were legitimate. So we don’t want to downplay or minimize, we take everything seriously, and we’re here to make sure people are safe,” said Stephen Petit, the deputy chief of administration at the Burlington Fire Department.
We’re told the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service are investigating this incident. We reached out to both agencies to get more information but had not yet heard back when this story was published.
Burlington police responded to the scene but told us they are not involved in the investigation, nor are state police.
We are expecting to hear from the senator’s team soon.