1st O.C. Anthrax Hoax Quarantines Anaheim School

An anthrax threat at an Anaheim high school Monday prompted a quarantine of students and campus employees for almost three hours, but the threat turned out to be a hoax, authorities said.

Police said they suspect that a student may have called in the threat, which was the latest in a series of similar incidents recently across Southern California but the first in Orange County.

Twenty students and about 100 faculty members and bus drivers were inside Gilbert-East High continuation school when the call was received about noon, said Robyn Butler, a spokeswoman for the Anaheim Fire Department.

The students and employees were quarantined until officials determined that the threat was bogus.

The hoax resulted in delays for some students who are bused home from school.

“Unfortunately, we also had to keep the bus drivers inside while we checked to make certain there was no danger. The drivers had been waiting inside the building before leaving to pick up the kids,” Butler said.

Authorities said a man called the campus several times to report that biotoxin anthrax spores had been released in the ventilation system. Anaheim Police Sgt. Joe Vargas said one of the calls came in while officers were there.

The caller “did sound young, and we’ll be looking at whether he is a student,” Vargas said.

“We want to get across that this is a serious offense, and the person doing this is looking at serious jail time. We treat this as if it was a bomb scare.”

Vargas said police and the Fire Department’s hazardous materials team cordoned off the area and did a threat assessment. It did not take long for authorities to determine that “the threat lacked credibility,” he said.

“The introduction of biological agents requires a lot of technological know-how,” Vargas said. “This technology is just not there for the average person.”

As a precautionary measure, Fire Department officials advised everyone who was in the building to go home, wash their clothes and shower.

Police and fire officials said the building would be inspected again as a precaution before classes resume today.

Nearly two dozen anthrax threats have been reported across Southern California in the past three months. Each one has turned out to be a hoax, but authorities say they must respond to each incident as if it were real. Because police, fire and hazardous materials experts are involved, officials say a hoax can cost as much as $500,000 to investigate.

Spores from anthrax bacteria can cause respiratory failure and death if left untreated.

Last month, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick called for legislation that would require anyone who perpetrates such a hoax to pay for the cost of responding to the threat.

Chick acted after an anthrax scare at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Woodland Hills, which is in her district.

Businessman Harvey Spelkin has been accused of telling a court worker the deadly toxin had been released into the building’s air-conditioning system.

About 90 people who were inside at the time underwent antibiotic treatment.

In other incidents last month:

* About 800 people were quarantined in a Pomona nightclub after an unidentified man called police and said anthrax was going to be released inside.

* About 200 shoppers in a Palm Desert department store had to disrobe and be decontaminated with a bleach solution after an anthrax threat was called in to the store.

* About 200 people were evacuated from the Chatsworth office of Time-Warner Cable Inc. after the business received a similar threat.

* About 1,500 people were evacuated from two Van Nuys courthouses and quarantined for several hours after authorities received a telephone threat.