UPDATE: Girl Scouts Gauze Scare Diffused

Several fire trucks, ambulances, police cruisers, a hazmat team and a bomb squad were on the scene at the building on Turnpike Street Wednesday afternoon.

Children and staff were quickly evacuated from the building, and emergency crews stood ready for action. Traffic backed up as concerned commuters gazed at the scene. A couple hours later, the danger was removed and the building was fine.

What terrifying items were found that caused this panic? Gauze pads.

"A member of the North Andover Fire Department was called by the staff," Girl Scouts spokesperson Allison Rubin said. "They were concerned that first aid kits had become a fire hazard."

In the 1930s and 1940s, gauze contained acid, used in treating burns.

"It was very common back then," Rubin said.

But over time, when the material breaks down, it has the potential to become flammable. The chemicals that the Girl Scouts' gauze were saturated with had crystalized and had become a fire hazard and potentially explosive. So the staff at the Girl Scouts called the Fire Department.

When the first aid kits were taken apart, aking the chemicals more vulnerable to explosion, the Fire Department then brought in a hazmat team -- made up of firefighters from several area communities -- and the state bomb squad, Fire Lt. Robert Bonenfant said.

"Especially when dealing with chemicals and volatile substances, we always go on the side of caution," Bonenfant said.

There were no fires or injuries, and Bonenfant added that the building is fine now. All of the potentially harmful materials were removed and brought to the local recycling center, where they were destroyed.