ONLOOKERS to a hazardous material – hazmat – incident at Carrum Downs could have been forgiven for thinking Santa had arrived early, or, perhaps, that strange little men from Mars were taking over the neighbourhood.
In protective orange suit and green boots, and carrying a large yellow plastic container, a chemical-protected officer gingerly made his way down the driveway of a house in Pebble Beach Drive.
He placed several articles in the container and moved back to a man-size decontamination unit set up in the middle of the street – watched by police, firemen and ambulance crews.
The officers watched intently from their vantage points and, after putting their heads together and assessing their booty, the all-clear was given: The house had simply been “trashed” by former tenants and the bad smell thought to be from a chemical lab was declared to be – just a bad smell.
Senior Sergeant Steve Duffy, of Carrum Downs police, said the real estate agent representing the landlord had reported the suspicious odour, prompting police to call in the drug lab experts to investigate. He said the house had been visited by police investigating “various activities by undesirables” in previous weeks.
Incident controller Terry Larkin, of Carrum Downs CFA, said police had noticed a “strong chemical smell”, possibly coming from unidentified drums on the property.
First published in the Frankston Times
