Anthrax Scare Forces Building to Be Evacuated

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 immediate reports of injuries. But the threat alone caused a large disturbance.

More than 100 rescue workers, police and hazardous material 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 100 workers, potential exposure victims, milled behind yellow emergency tape outside the Bankruptcy Court. Some wrapped themselves in blankets distributed by rescue workers as the sun set and the temperature dropped.

Meanwhile, after shutting down the ventilation system, hazardous materials experts entered to test for anthrax, dabbing at possibly infected surfaces with cotton swabs. 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 on 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 spores are inhaled or 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 2:10 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 a day after a similar incident forced the evacuation of a 21-story office building on South Glendon Avenue in Westwood Village. In that case, an Executive Parking Co. employee opened a letter stating that it was laced with the deadly bacteria. Nearly two dozen office workers were forced to strip and undergo a decontamination treatment for fear that they had been exposed.

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 to anthrax may not show for 30 days, authorities do not believe anyone was contaminated in either of those incidents.

In November, a Riverside elementary school teacher received a thank-you card containing a moist towelette and a warning that it contained anthrax.

And in October, abortion clinics in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee received letters that said: “You have just been exposed to anthrax.”

Laura Bosley, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles, said Friday that there is no indication that a single person or group is responsible for the recent threats.

Los Angeles Police Lt. Anthony Alba said authorities have to treat any such threat as if it were real, despite the resulting confusion and expense. Alba estimated the cost of the response to Thursday’s incident in Westwood at $500,000, and said Friday’s scare would cost about the same. He said more than 150 police officers, federal agents, firefighters and rescue workers were involved.

Police and fire officials said they planned to meet next week to discuss methods of handling such incidents at lower cost with less disruption. “We’re going to meet and try to refine our responses to perhaps send fewer people but still be able to handle any emergency,” Alba said.

Fox is a Times correspondent and Glover is a Times staff writer.