Members of New York’s Bravest rushed into their Downtown headquarters on Monday to investigate a suspicious package delivered the day before the anniversary of 9-11, ultimately deeming the parcel a false alarm.
Firefighters, police, and members of the city’s bomb squad showed up to examine the package addressed to Fire Department Chief James Leonard at his 9 Metrotech Center office around 3:15 pm, according to a department spokesman, who said its arrival on the eve of the 17th anniversary of the city’s worst terrorist attack in history made everyone a little more on edge.
“Of course people have high emotions around 9-11,” said Mike Parella.
Officials evacuated the seventh and eighth floors of the building on the same campus as this newspaper’s offices as they investigated the parcel, sending staff outside to wait in the rain for the all clear, Police Department spokesman Det. Hubert Reyes said.
Uniformed firefighters wheeled stretchers into the building as employees huddled outside, but the gurneys were only precautionary, and no one was injured, Parella said.
Employees started filing back into their offices just before 5 pm, after responders declared the package was safe, according to Parella.
