News: Santa Cruz Fire Department - Fire Station evacuation

Santa Cruz County sheriff's and fire personnel have determined that a suspicious package left at the front door of a fire station in unincorporated Santa Cruz County this morning was nothing more than a cardboard box with newspaper, according to the sheriff's department.

Members of the Sheriff's Bomb Squad bring their robot (Sparky) back to their truck after determining that a suspicious package found outside the Thurber Lane Fire Station posed no risk. (Shmuel Thaler/Sentinel)

The package was reported at the station at 3445 Thurber Lane at about 7:50 a.m., a sheriff's dispatcher said.

The package forced the evacuation of a daycare center on Thurber Lane as well as a voluntary evacuation of approximately 400 homes in the area, according to the dispatcher.

By 11 a.m., the county's bomb squad had determined the package was a cardboard box wrapped with duct tape and filled with newspaper.

Children at the daycare center were taken on Santa Cruz Metropolitan District buses to the parking lot of Dominican Hospital, but were able to return to the center after the scene had been cleared, the dispatcher said.

The sheriff's department is notifying area residents that they can return to their homes.