LIMESTONE – After being quarantined for 11 hours, 78 employees at a military accounting center in the Loring Commerce Centre were allowed to go home at about 3 a.m. Thursday.

The lockdown at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service building was prompted late Wednesday afternoon when a FedEx package from Dyess Air Force Base, outside Abilene, Texas, was found to contain what officials termed “a suspicious powdery substance” on a disposable tape dispenser mixed in with other items, according to a DFAS official.

Vernon Davenport, DFAS public affairs officer at Loring, did not know how much of the substance was in the package, but “there had to be more than a dusting because it was noticed,” he said Thursday morning.

He said the package otherwise was routine and contained a few vouchers and invoices.

After initially dismissing the discovery at about 4 p.m., some employees became concerned that the orange, powdery material may have posed a chemical or biological hazard.

At 4:30 p.m., DFAS officials activated its security plan, essentially locking down the building and quarantining 78 employees.

Local emergency authorities, including a hazardous materials response team from the Madawaska Fire Department, were contacted, as were the state and Aroostook County emergency management agencies, the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI.

Madawaska firefighters were responsible for initial scene preparation prior to the arrival of a federal emergency response team from Waterville, according to Vernon Ouellette, Emergency Management Agency director for Aroostook County.

Local and state police and volunteer firefighters manned roadblocks and cordoned off four blocks of Loring Commerce Centre around DFAS, and only authorized personnel and residents of a nearby housing development were allowed to pass.

A day-care center across the street from DFAS was evacuated.

The National Guard’s 11th Civil Support Team also was activated, making it the first time the unit has been called upon since being formed in January 2000.

The unit, also referred to as the Weapons of Mass Destruction Team, is comprised of 22 full-time National Guardsmen who are fully trained and equipped to handle assessment and decontamination operations for large-scale hazardous incidents.

Major Jeffrey T. Squires, 11th CST deputy commander, said Thursday that the team was alerted at 6 p.m., left Waterville at 7 p.m. and arrived at DFAS at 11:20 p.m. under state police escort. The team was operational within 30 minutes after its arrival at Loring.

Confined employees at the DFAS office subsequently went through a three-step decontamination process in which they removed their clothing and showered, according to Ouellette.

The first two decontamination steps were carried out within the DFAS building. The third step, which was virtually identical to the others, was done at the former Loring Air Force Base pool area. Employees also were given medical examinations, including nasal passage swabs.

Shortly after 2 a.m., the National Guard team determined that the material found in the FedEx envelope was harmless, though the exact nature of the substance was not known.

“They were testing to eliminate other things,” Davenport said, referring to potential chemical and biological contaminants.

Ouellette said about 40 people had already been decontaminated when word was received that the material found in the envelope posed no threat.

He said members of the National Guard team went into the DFAS building and conducted four separate tests on the material before declaring that the substance was not a health threat.

The material was taken to the Maine State Police lab in Augusta for further testing. Results of that testing are not expected to be known for two or three days, according to Ouellette.

Davenport said there also is an on-going investigation being conducted at Dyess AFB, where the envelope originated, to determine how the tape dispenser got in the envelope in the first place.

“People there also are worried,” he said, adding that he did not know the scope of that investigation.

A total of 23 local, county, state and federal agencies were involved in the incident.

There were a few glitches in communications, including not enough radios and the fact that the area has poor reception for cell phones, but Ouellette said that overall he was amazed at how smoothly the operation went.

“It was hectic, but everyone involved was calm,” he said during a debriefing Thursday. “All agencies worked together.”

He added that the Aroostook EMA has been developing disaster plans for just such a situation for two years.

Squires also praised the local effort, noting that everything done prior to the arrival of his team was “textbook. It made our job easier.”

Davenport said he was impressed with how well all the different agencies worked “seamlessly” to deal with the situation.

“I was pleased,” he said. “I think we have a lot of people up here that we can be thankful we can rely on.”