HSU Residence Hall Needs Decontamination After Bear Spray Incident; Some Evacuations

One of Humboldt State University’s residence apartment buildings, Redwood Hall, on the north end of campus was bear sprayed about 7:40 p.m., according to scanner traffic. Arcata Police and Fire were requested to provide support for “decontamination” of the second floor of Redwood Hall.

At one point, the Incident Commander said that the crew was going to “pressurize the hallway and move the chemicals back into the room.”

Details are scarce but HSU’s spokesperson told us that “the whole area around where the smell was is being evacuated.” But he said, “No one was taken to the hospital…They have no idea what happened..They are still searching for the source.” Meanwhile, he said, crews are working on “getting it ventilated.”

Please remember that information gathered from initial reports is subject to revision as more facts become available.