AMHERST – A state Hazardous Materials Response team and bomb squad were dispatched to Brandywine Apartments Wednesday after the property manager discovered chemicals and a strong smell in one of the units.
Amherst Police responded to building 6 of the apartment complex off Meadow Street about 4:30 p.m. after the manager discovered several unmarked glass containers containing liquids in an apartment.
The manager entered the apartment after a neighboring tenant complained of a strong smell, according to Amherst Assistant Fire Chief Lindsay Stromgren.
The 12-unit building was then evacuated and the Fire Department, Hazmat team, bomb squad and state Department of Environmental Protection were subsequently called. The Hazmat team conducted preliminary testing on the substances and determined that they did not pose an immediate health hazard or explosion risk, Stromgren said.
But those tests did not determine the nature of the chemicals. “Right now we don’t know what the chemicals are,” he said late Wednesday night.
At one point the tenant who lives in the apartment with the chemicals returned home. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation, Stromgren said. He did not say why the man was taken to a hospital.
The tenants of the 11 other apartments in Building 6 were allowed back into their units. A contractor hired by the Department of Environmental Protection was expected to come to the site Wednesday night to clean up the chemicals, Stromgren said.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.