EUREKA SPRINGS (KFSM) — Members of the Rogers Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Response Team made their way to Eureka Springs on Thursday morning to check out a find at the famed 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa.
Rogers Chief Tom Jenkins said Rogers was called about 8:25 a.m. because someone had found some chemicals at the Crescent, possibly out in a parking lot.
“They’re not able to identify what they are,” Jenkins said. “They’re in small containers.”
So, Rogers Fire Department sent some of its technical experts and tools to help identify the chemicals, he said.
Personnel with the Eureka Springs Fire Department said the fire chief was on the scene, but units weren’t sent out and it wasn’t considered a major emergency at the time. The fire chief was at the hotel awaiting the arrival of the Rogers firefighters, they said.
Bill Ott, director of marketing and communications for the Crescent, said the hotel was still open and running.
“We’re just sitting back and waiting, and that’s all I can tell you right now,” Ott said.
Jenkins said such calls to Rogers aren’t unusual. Since the late 1980s, the larger cities in the area — Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville — have had hazardous material identification and disposal capabilities. The cities help towns and other areas lacking those capabilities, and sometimes help each other on larger hazmat calls, Jenkins said.
“It’s just part of our job duties,” he said.
