BREAKING NEWS

A white, powdery substance on an envelope led to the evacuation of the Laguna Beach Post Office on Forest Avenue shortly after 4 p.m. Friday. Shops and offices around the post office were ordered vacated and four people were decontaminated by firefighters, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Darin Lenyi said.

Postal officials called police after a postal worker complained of a headache after handling the envelope, which was dropped off at the post office by a white man in his 60s, Lenyi said.

The envelope was letter-sized and stamped, and carried no return address. Lenyi would not say to whom the envelope was addressed. The envelope was not opened.

No one was taken to the hospital as a result of exposure to the powder, Lenyi said. The clothing of the people exposed to the substance was bagged, he added.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad and HazMat teams were called in to conduct tests to determine if the powder is a harmful substance, Lenyi said.

Leslie Sweetser, of Downtown Browne’s Flower Shop at the Lumberyard Mall, said a postal worker told her a postal employee had handled a “suspicious package” that made his eyes burn.

Around 4:30 p.m. a man was stripped down in the middle of the street and another postal employee was observed near a decontamation bath as a fleet of ambulances waited nearby. Firefighters were wearing full breathing apparatus.

By 5:30 p.m., firefighters had removed their breathing equipment and the incident was scaled down. Forest Avenue was completely opened to traffic, but Ocean Avenue remained closed, as a staging area for police and firefighters.

The FBI and the U.S. Postal Service are involved in the investigation. Anyone with information about the man who allegedly dropped off the envelope should call Laguna Beach Det. Ted Falencki at (949) 497-0370.