Fatal OD prompts hazmat response
A 44-year-old man’s fatal overdose prompted a hazmat scare in Chelsea yesterday, with the suspicion of highly toxic fentanyl powder shutting down a portion of the city for hours, officials said.
Firefighters found the man in a four-door Mercedes-Benz with Florida plates parked behind a funeral home on Cary Avenue. Also inside the vehicle was white powder. Fearing that it could be fentanyl or the even more powerful carfentanyl, a Tier 1 hazmat incident was called.
“It’s a tax on our community,” Chelsea Deputy Fire Chief Wayne Ulwick said. “We have to shut down streets. It ties up apparatus and resources for an overdose. But we have to take every precaution ... if it gets airborne and gets inhaled, someone could potentially drop.”
In August, three Chelsea police officers were hospitalized after they came into contact with fentanyl when responding to a car crash involving a drug user.
When firefighters arrived at the scene yesterday, they gave the man two doses of naloxone, and when crews from Cataldo Ambulance Service Inc. arrived they also provided two doses. Another dose was administered on the way to the hospital, Ulwick said.
Chelsea police Chief Brian Kyes said the man was taken to Whidden Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Two drug detectives donned head-to-toe suits and respirators equipped with oxygen tanks to search the car. They removed a black suitcase and clothing and placed it in clear plastic bags that were sealed with yellow tape.
Boston fire hazmat teams worked alongside the drug detectives and used a handheld fogger to spray down the interior of the car as well as the suits the detectives wore.
Ulwick said the foggers use a chemical that bonds to and decontaminates most powder substances.
He said the hazmat crews were then decontaminated with the same substance and hosed down in the parking lot. Their vital signs were checked before and after.
“We’re going to do this every time we find an unknown powder,” Ulwick said. “It was a pretty intense scene for everyone. We’re going to treat every one of these the same now.”
Ulwick said the substance collected at the scene will now be taken to a state lab for testing. It was not known how long that process could take.
Residents voiced shock at what had happened.
“It’s terrible that someone would do that to themselves,” said Maria Ortiz. “Their life is worth more than some drug.”