BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cherryroad.com
More details have been released regarding the package that produced smoke at the Cassville Post Office Tuesday, leading to a closure of the office and use of an X-ray analyzer to identify a possible threat.
Sgt. Donnie Privett, with the Cassville Police Department, said the incident, caused by strike-anywhere matches, began at about 7:30 a.m. inside the building.
“One of the employees had tossed a package to another close table, and it started hissing and smoking, so the employee threw it out the back door and into the loading dock, and that’s when they heard a pop,” he said. “I think the pop was just packaging material, and the hiss was the lighting of the matches.”
Privett said when police arrived, the building was fully evacuated or very close to it, and the package was in a mail crate under the loading dock so it was out of the rain that morning. Privett said the package was not smoking at that point but did smell, and there were two small burn holes in the bottom of the envelope.
Opting to call the Springfield Fire Department to assess the package, Cassville police continued to investigate locally.
“We made sure there was no fire after the Cassville Fire Protection District came, and we called Springfield to be on the safe side,” Privett said. “We then went to the house that was on the address label, and the person who was there said they had ordered some strike-anywhere matches.”
When the Springfield unit arrived, responders used an X-ray analyzer to peer inside the envelope.
“They said it looked like matches, so they opened it, and it was matches,” Privett said. The scene was cleared
by 10:02 a.m. Privett said there are no charges coming from the Department’s end, but the Postal Inspector was notified. “Chief Dana Kammerlohr did speak with an FBI agent, and it was determined there was no malicious threat,” Privett said. A call placed to the Postal Inspector was not returned as of presstime.
According to the U.S. Post Office, strike-anywhere matches are deemed nonmailable, and according to U.S. code, knowingly mailing a nonmailable object subjects the sender to fines or up to one year in prison, or both. Knowingly mailing a nonmailable object with intent to kill or injure persons or property subjects the sender to fines or up to 20 years in prison, or both.
