An entire floor of the Fox News office in New York City’s Midtown area was evacuated on Friday. One of the network’s hosts reportedly received a package in the mail which contained a white powdery substance. Police were called and the host reportedly isolated inside an office while everyone else left. The substance was eventually discovered to be non-hazardous.
Details on what exactly happened are still a bit unclear. Fox News has not publicly identified who the host that received the package was, and there haven’t been a ton of other details released. The New York Post did, however, photograph the chaos as it unfolded, and there was a big response from emergency officials. Cops and firefighters both responded in large numbers, along with dogs to sniff for bombs and the counterterrorism unit.
After everyone was given the all-clear to return to the building, Fox News reportedly sent its employees an email addressing what happened and assuring everyone protocols were followed. They also thanked the Hazmat unit for being on top of everything. You can read a portion of the email below, which was obtained by Deadline…
We immediately notified the NYPD’s Hazmat unit and the FDNY, both of which responded accordingly and the floor was evacuated. The substance was determined to be non-hazardous and we are very grateful for their swift attention to the incident. Please know that all protocols for a situation like this were followed and the matter is being further investigated by the appropriate authorities. The 21st floor, and the entire building, have now been given the all-clear. As always, the safety of our employees is a priority and of utmost concern.
Unfortunately this type of thing happens far too often when it comes to politicians and/ or members of the media covering politics. In the week after 9/11, letters containing anthrax were mailed to the offices of five different media outlets: ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Post and the National Enquirer, resulting in several deaths. In the time since, there have been many other scary situations, including bombs sent to CNN’s offices a few years ago, as well as to several politicians.
Everything seems to have returned to work as normal at the Fox offices in Manhattan. At some point either the authorities or the networks may release a longer statement explaining what happened, but for now, things seem to be carrying on. In fact, it’s perhaps a disturbing sign of the times that this evacuation didn’t bring with it more fanfare or coverage from more media outlets, though it’s hard to know the severity of the threat without knowing the intentions of the person who sent the package.
We will let you know if anything further develops from this story or if we get any public word on what exactly happened or who the package was addressed to.
