The fire department has evacuated all buildings in downtown Globe until a potentially volatile substance can be removed from a storefront under renovation.
About eight square blocks of downtown Globe were evacuated Wednesday morning after an unstable chemical was found in an old storefront.
Globe Mayor Al Gameros said a new tenant moving into the building discovered small vials of picric acid and called the fire department.
“It’s an acid used back in the days with the old drug stores and stuff," Gameros said. "It’s a chemical that’s unstable if it’s aged, and that’s what it is.”
Gameros said the state Department of Public Safety HAZMAT team has been called to remove the crystalized substance from the storefront.
The mayor said there’s no reason for Globe residents to panic, but city officials wanted to treat the situation with an abundance of caution.
