LIMESTONE – A state emergency response team was activated Wednesday to investigate an envelope containing a suspicious substance that had been mailed to the military accounting center at the former Loring Air Force Base.

A group of 71 employees, confined at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service building at the Loring Commerce Centre, were expected to undergo decontamination procedures by the National Guard emergency response team.

While it had not been determined what the substance was, officials were not taking any chances.

“In today’s environment, it’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Steven Burgess, deputy director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency. At about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, a FedEx envelope was delivered to DFAS, according to Art Cleaves, director of MEMA.

When it was opened, employees in the mailroom found what Cleaves said was “a suspicious powdery substance on a piece of tape.”

Conflicting reports said the substance was either white or orange in color. It was unknown whether any other items were in the envelope, according to a DFAS public relations official.

Cleaves said employees in the mailroom were afraid that the substance might be a chemical or biological agent. Because of that, DFAS implemented its security plan.

“We literally locked down the building after we determined it was a suspicious package,” Vernon Davenport, DFAS public affairs officer, said Wednesday night. “Nobody goes in, and nobody goes out.”

As of 11:15 p.m., 71 people remained in the building to begin decontamination. The Red Cross responded earlier in the evening with food for the group.

“I think they’re taking it in stride for the most part,” he said.

“They’re a little upset,” Davenport continued. “They want to get home and see their kids, but they’re holding up well. It’s a long process.”

Davenport said three people, two women and one man, were working in the DFAS mailroom at the time the package arrived and was opened.

At the same time the building was locked down, local fire and police officials cordoned off the area, Cleaves said.

State emergency management officials were notified, as were the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI, and the 11th Civil Support Team, which is the state’s emergency response team based in Waterville.

It is the first time the team has ever been activated.

“We were kind of hoping we’d never have to use them,” Burgess of MEMA said Wednesday night. “It should be the whole team going up.”

The team arrived at Loring Commerce Centre at 11:20 p.m. and entered at the west gate area. It is believed that it left at about 8 p.m. from Waterville. The team gota full escort with lights and sirens from the Maine State Police.

The team’s convoy consisted of eight vehicles, including vans, pickup trucks and other military-type vehicles.

The 22-member unit of full-time National Guardsmen was created in January 2000 and is intended to back up local first responders in high-risk emergencies. It is equipped with the latest in protective gear, a mobile command post with state-of-the-art communications equipment and decontamination equipment.

Local emergency service personnel, including Limestone police and fire department units from Limestone, Caribou and Madawaska reportedly also were called to the scene.

Gov. Angus King also was being kept informed, according to John Ripley, his spokesman, on Wednesday night.

Roadblocks were set up on Northcutt Road near the former base elementary school on the west side of the base and near the old Haven Inn, a former hotel near the east side of the base. One roadblock was manned by Limestone police and volunteer firefighters.

Arthur Knight, who lives in a former base housing development with his wife and two children, said that only residents who lived in the Tennessee Circle area were being allowed into the area. All others were being turned away.

Local residents said they were nervous and uncertain about what was happening at the DFAS building and had not been told what was going on by officials.

According to Davenport, the decontamination process involves the people in the building removing their clothing, entering a decontamination booth and taking a shower. They then don a special suit and are taken to another location for a second round of decontamination.

At the same time, samples of whatever is washed off their bodies are collected for examination for possible contamination.

Cleaves said the samples, as well as the powdery substance that was in the envelope, will be packaged and taken to the state health lab in Augusta for further testing.

DFAS opened in January 1995 in the former Loring Air Force Base Hospital. More than 300 people are employed there, 80 percent of whom are civilians.

The facility handles the accounting functions of 15 Air Force bases, 15 National Guard units and one Air Reserve unit.