By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com
About 60 state workers had to evacuate their work area due to a suspicious smell that was determined to be a decomposing rodent in a vending machine.
A spokesman for Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said that the report of a smell of natural gas at the State Franchise Tax Board offices in the 9600 block Butterfield Way caused some employees to evacuate at about 10 a.m.
Firefighters as a precaution began to treat it as a Level 2 hazardous material at situation. Then, somebody smelled a rat ...or a mouse.
The dead rodent, which was in a state of decomposition, was in a soda machine, said Sac Metro's spokesman Capt. Christian Pebbles.
"It was giving off a very foul odor," said Pebbles. "The rodent was probably trying to find some leaking sugar."
A spokeswoman for Franchise Tax said that after the rodent was found, the work area was cleared and then cleaned up.
After a 20-minute clearing of the area, workers were allowed either to work in another area, go home or work in the freshly cleaned area after the offending rodent was removed.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
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