"Medical device causes L.A./Ontario International Airport evacuation"

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Medical device causes evacuation
By Wes Woods II and Melissa Pinion-Whitt
The San Bernardino (CA) County Sun


ONTARIO - A suspicious package prompted the evacuation of a terminal at
L.A./Ontario International Airport for more than two hours Wednesday
afternoon. 

The evacuation and flight delays at the terminal started about noon after
officials found what was later determined to be an oxygen medical device
during a luggage screening, airport spokeswoman Maria Fermin-Tesoro said. 

Immediately after the screeners found the item, the evacuation procedure
started on the first floor, she said. 

Those who had passed screening on the second floor stayed in the terminal.
While Terminal 4 - home to Southwest Airlines, the airport's largest carrier
- was being inspected, flights continued at Terminal 2, she said. 

Tom Alkema, 46, of Corona had a Southwest flight to Oakland to catch at 2:20
p.m. 

He walked up to the terminal at 1:15 p.m. when yellow tape greeted him. 

"I've heard no comment from the airline," he said about 1:30 p.m. 

Travelers were let back into the first floor of Terminal 4 about 2:30 p.m.,
Tesoro-Fermin said. 
Flights were delayed, Tesoro-Fermin said. She did not have more details late
Wednesday. 

She said there were no cancellations. 

Scott Yager, 44, of Oblong, Ill., was trying to get back home on a US Air
flight after he visited family with his wife. 

"We usually just see this kind of stuff on TV," Yager said while waiting to
get inside the terminal. "The most excitement we see is a cat up a tree." 

The Ontario Fire Department, Ontario Airport Fire Department, the FBI's bomb
squad, the Ontario Police Department, the Ontario Airport Police Department
and the Transportation Security Administration assisted with the
investigation. 

Roughly a half dozen Ontario Airport Police K9 units inspected the inside of
the terminal, Tesoro-Fermin said. 

Last month, a terminal was shut down because of a suspicious package that
turned out to be a cosmetics case. 

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