A suicide in an East Bertsch Street home on Saturday prompted Lansford police to take the precaution of calling in a hazardous materials team.

"The incident was concluded when we were able to safely access the victim, who had used a common gas to suffocate himself.

"There were no hazardous chemicals, or any threat to surrounding people. The gas was contained in a very, very small area," Police Chief Jack Soberick said.

He said the reason for the big response was that the "more serious the event, the slower and more cautiously we will move."

Soberick said that officers went to the home at about 5 p.m. to check on a person who had not been seen for a few days.

"The officers encountered circumstances that led them to believe that there might be a hazmat situation that would endanger first responders who did not have proper equipment," Soberick said.

He was called to evaluate the situation, and alerted Carbon County Emergency Management Coordinator Mark Nalesnik.

The Lehigh County Special Ops Hazmat team was called.

"He arrived and confirmed that we needed a full response from hazmat," Soberick said.

Hazmat is a team composed of a hazmat tech, hazardous device techs; law enforcement who are also hazmat techs, in this case, the Salisbury Township Police Department's Special Ops team; Allentown paramedics assigned to the hazmat team, and Lansford fire, Lehigh/Lausanne Fire Department, the Salvation Army, and Lansford fire police, he said.

The 300 block of East Bartsch was closed off for several hours while the team handled the situation.