First Responders Exposed To Unknown Substance In Roscoe Home, Hospitalized
ROSCOE, Pa. (KDKA) -- First responders were hospitalized overnight and one person is dead after authorities say they were exposed to an unknown substance while responding to a medical call at a home in Washington County.
Emergency crews were first called to a home on Garfield Avenue at Good Street around 2:15 a.m.
Officials on scene say firefighters were exposed to some sort of unknown substance inside the home. Three of them were hospitalized.
Their conditions are unknown.
Following the exposure, police, fire and HAZMAT teams were called in. They closed down the neighborhood for several hours, but the roads have since reopened.
One person was found in the home.
According to state police, the man was found dead after ingesting a white powdery substance. They're calling it a death investigation, but are not ruling it out as a suicide.
New details: State Police say a man ingested a white powdery substance at a home in Roscoe this morning, has died. They're calling it a death investigation, but are not ruling it out as a suicide. More on @KDKA pic.twitter.com/SxeQ3smnfE
— Lindsay Ward (@LindsayWardTV) October 30, 2019
Investigators in masks and gloves were seen carrying bags of evidence out of the home and firefighters hosed off medical equipment found in the house.
There were no evacuations, and officials say neighbors were not in danger.
"I just know that it was a little scary," said one woman, who asked us not to identify her.
She lives across the road from the home, across from all the activity.
Activity that made it into her front yard.
"I looked outside and I saw the ambulances, and I saw the fire trucks," she said. "And a lot of people running around."
Police tell KDKA the 49-year-old ingested a white powdery substance that the firefighters came in contact with.
State police are calling it a death investigation, but haven't ruled it out as a suicide.
Stay with KDKA for the latest on this developing story.
