A Brooklyn fire house was evacuated along with the rest of its block amid a bomb scare this afternoon — but the suspicious-looking item turned out to be nothing but an empty suitcase.
The hourlong evacuation occurred after a passer-by spotted the suitcase near some trash cans and knocked on the door of nearby Engine 281 on Courtelyou road between Westminster and Argyle roads in Flatbush around 3:30 p.m.to report it, authorities said. Soon, NYPD bomb-squad cops flooded the area.
“The police came ringing all the doorbells in the building telling us all to get out. I thought maybe at first there was some kind of drug bust or something. Then I hear bomb, and I grabbed my kids and got out,” said Matt Harrison, 29, a construction worker.
David Mickevic, 31, who works in the local Trackerson Wine Shop, was annoyed by the hoopla.
“It really was a big inconvenience,” he said. “A police officer came in and told us we needed to leave because of a bomb scare. Then it was complete pandemonium outside with all the police, and people just weren’t moving.”
Resident Lisa Ray, 27, said she was glad for the heightened attention to security, especially after the Boston Marathon bombings.
“I guess with everything that happened in Boston, you can’t be too careful,” she said.