Woodland Hills Target of 3rd Anthrax Threat

An anonymous caller’s threat that they had been exposed to deadly anthrax bacteria forced the occupants to evacuate a federal government office building in Warner Center on Friday, the third such scare in the Los Angeles area this week.

Laboratory tests were being conducted, but “under the circumstances, it is unlikely” that the threat was genuine, said Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, Los Angeles County director of public health. Similar incidents in Westwood on Thursday and Riverside on Monday were deemed hoaxes by authorities.

There were no reports of injuries. But the threat alone caused a large disturbance.

More than 100 rescue workers, police and hazardous-materials specialists responded to the building where an anonymous caller warned that the biotoxin had been released into the air-conditioning system at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Burbank Boulevard was closed between DeSoto and Canoga avenues, snarling evening rush-hour traffic. Nearly a hundred workers, potential exposure victims, milled behind yellow emergency tape outside the Bankruptcy Court.

Meanwhile, after shutting down the ventilation system, hazardous-materials experts entered to test for the presence of anthrax. The samples were flown by helicopter to a county health department lab downtown and checked for the deadly bacteria.

Authorities said that even if the tests proved negative, the workers would be instructed to shower immediately upon returning home, before touching anyone. Fielding said the health department was considering whether to give the workers antibiotics as a precaution.

Anthrax is often fatal when its microscopic spores are inhaled or even touched. Terrorists have threatened to use it as a germ warfare agent in the United States and abroad.

The scare started about 1:30 p.m. when a clerk of the court at 21041 Burbank Blvd. received a threatening phone call, said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Fire officials were called about 2:08 p.m. by someone in the U.S. marshal’s office, Collis said. He said he did not know what caused the delay in reporting the incident.

The scare came one day after a similar incident forced the evacuation of a 21-story office building in Westwood Village. In that case, a parking garage employee opened a letter stating that it was laced with the deadly bacteria. Nearly two dozen office workers were forced to undergo a decontamination treatment.

In Riverside County on Monday, 20 people were quarantined and decontaminated after a Perris School District secretary opened a letter that claimed the envelope contained anthrax.

Although the effects of exposure may not show up for 30 days, authorities do not believe anyone was contaminated in either incident.