Coquitlam fire officials confer during a hazmat situation Monday morning that resulted in the partial evacuation of the city’s RCMP headquarters next to Coquitlam city hall.
A 55-year-old Coquitlam man, with no fixed address, was arrested after he allegedly threw a suspicious substance at a front-desk clerk; he now faces charges of public mischief and possession of a controlled substance, and is set to appear at Port Coquitlam provincial court on July 16.
Coquitlam’s assistant fire chief of operations, Greg Senior, told The Tri-City News the man was at the local Mounties’ HQ at around 9:30 a.m. and complained about being poisoned; he then pulled out a powder.
About a dozen people from the detachment were evacuated while a hazmat team was deployed to investigate the substance. Other Coquitlam fire crews were brought in to assist with the incident and Port Moody Fire/Rescue was placed on stand-by.
No one was injured.
