N. Hollywood Bomb Scare Leads to Evacuation of 500

Los Angeles police and firefighters evacuated more than 500 people Wednesday after discovering what looked like a bomb but turned out to be illegally dumped chemicals.

A concerned neighbor called police about 1 p.m. after spotting a plastic bottle in the gutter along the 6700 block of Kraft Avenue, officials said. Two glass containers filled with a chemical that later turned out to be mercury were stacked inside the bottle, said Capt. Daniel Thompson, a fire spokesman. He said the bottle was labeled “poison.”

The hazardous materials unit of the city Fire and Police Departments was sent to the scene, as well as the LAPD’s bomb squad.

Because fire officials feared the bottle might be a chemical bomb, they evacuated residents in a nine-square-block area. The evacuees were sent to Fair Avenue Elementary School.

“The main concern is that if the containers break open and the chemicals mix there could be some chain reaction,” Thompson said. “It could be a prank, but we have to treat it as a worst-case scenario to make sure.”

It turned out to be an illegal disposal of waste chemicals, Thompson said. Police are trying to identify fingerprints found on the container. Residents returned home shortly after 9 p.m.