Mall Evacuated in S.F. Valley!

http://www.msnbc.com/local/KNBC/A1327935.asp ^ | September 19, 2002 | TamiPie

[TamiPie]

Topanga Canyon Mall Evacuated

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., 10:13 a.m. PDT September 19, 2002 - The Topanga Canyon Mall was evacuated Thursday morning.

Authorities found possibly suspicious containers on the roof of the mall. The material may be on the roof directly above the California Pizza Kitchen, according to NBC4.

A mall security guard called the Los Angeles Police Department at 8:05 a.m. to say he received a call from a man with a Middle Eastern accent saying chemical agents were being left at several locations in the mall, according to Lt Horace Frank of LAPD press relations.

Responding officers talked to a mall employee who said he saw two men placing buckets on the roof. The buckets are labeled "Danger Oxidizers."

A Los Angeles Fire Department hazmat team is at the scene. It's possible the buckets were placed on roof by maintenance workers, but no one is sure.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is investigating.

[Clovis_Skeptic]

A mall security guard called the Los Angeles Police Department at 8:05 a.m. to say he received a call from a man with a Middle Eastern accent saying chemical agents were being left at several locations in the mall

By the end of the day this story will have been sanitized, to where there would have been no phone call, and if there was a phone call, no one could be certain of the callers accent.

The security guard will be chastized for making such careless remarks, and being guilty of jumping to conclusions, based on all the hype the Bush Admin. has stirred up.

The fact that their was a phone call is the highlight of the incident. The finding of these buckets may or may not be coincidental.

It is interesting how these stories evolve over the course of a day or two. This one will probably just fade away. But, if you viewed the live coverage of Waco, or The OKC bombing, you know how what you saw live, disappeared over time. Such as the tanks going in and out of the Davidan building with flames shooting out of their barrels. Then the tanks were driving back and forth over the underground rooms most of the occupants retreated to. Or OKC, the first on scene investigators running due to discovery of other bombs.

Oh well, better stop before I am admonished to don tinfoil.

[SCalGal]

I like that mall.... that's where Norstrom's is.

[cyphergirl]

"Danger Oxidizers."

I'm in a fire department HAZMAT class right now. "Oxidizer" is the term used for any chemical or compound that reacts with Oxygen. Generally, they react violently, hence the warning. Containers that contain them have to carry labels that say "Danger Oxydizers", and trucks have to be placarded. Our government at work... guess they decided that it would be too expensive to add punctuation to the placards and labels in the interest of readability. :) They should read: "DANGER! Oxidizers"

Just my .02.

[X-Servative]

Question? If a legitimate "threat," why call in and warn the police?

[Redcloak]

Here is an overhead view of the mall...

Image courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey

The large compound to the east is Boeing. (The old Rocketdyne plant.) Just to the north is Canoga High.

[Redcloak]

Fallbrook was razed. You're outta luck!

[thesharkboy]

It's been cut in half! Damn those dastardly terrorists!

[Redcloak]

Imagine my surprise at finding a large white stripe going across my neighborhood this morning!

[SarahW]

Hottar is what makes the Hottentots so hot.

[Blue Screen of Death]

Isn't this, like, you know, where we store our valley girls? If there is an emergency give the police radios to the valley girls and they can use mall-speak like the code talkers to communicate with head quarters.

[SCalGal]

ABC just said that all they found was cleaning solvents, no hazardous materials.

[Redcloak]

I thought that it was courage that made them so hot. It's what put the ape in apricot.

[Redcloak]

Shower time?

[Shooter 2.5]

Oh well, better stop before I am admonished to don tinfoil.

Too late.

[SCalGal]

LOL, I guess. Anyway, looks like nothing to worry about.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

Isn't this, like, you know, where we store our valley girls?

RealAudio of an NPR story from this morning about how teenagers use the word 'like'...

Yeah, I know it's NPR, but it was kind of interesting, not to mention perplexing that people would actually research such a thing.

[SCalGal]

You mean Nordstrom

Yes, Thank you.

[Tony in Hawaii]

Go rent a copy of "The Patriot" on DVD and listen to the director's comments. He says "Like" and "Sort of" approximately seven billion times. He's German, though, so he's like, sort of allowed.

[Tony in Hawaii]

They also have a Pottery Barn and a Crate & Barrel. Yowza.