A hazardous materials crew responded to Denver's Sam Gary Branch Library Wednesday after a bag found inside tested positive for xylazine, the veterinary tranquilizer increasingly cut into street fentanyl. One person was hospitalized, and no other people required decontamination. The library, located in the Central Park neighborhood, closed for the rest of Wednesday.
said crews responded to the area of 29th and Roslyn for the hazmat call, confirming the bag found in the library contained xylazine, a drug commonly mixed with fentanyl to create what is known on the street as tranq dope. One person was hospitalized, and no other people required decontamination. The Sam Gary Branch, at 2961 Roslyn Street, is normally open to the public and serves the surrounding Central Park community, according to the
Denver Public Library
.
Xylazine and Fentanyl
Denver Fire's hazmat response is handled by its specialized Hazardous Materials Emergency Response team, which uses the radio call sign HAMER 1 and operates out of Station 6, per Denver Fire Online. Denver Health Paramedics, which staffs nearly 270 frontline paramedics and EMTs, provides emergency medical services across its service area and coordinates with emergency-response partners, according to Denver Health.
Xylazine is a veterinary tranquilizer often mixed with fentanyl.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment recorded four overdose deaths involving xylazine in the Denver metro area between early 2022 and mid-2023. Nationally, the picture looks different: DEA reporting found that in 2022, roughly 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized across the country contained xylazine, with contaminated mixtures turning up in 48 states.
Echoes of Earlier Library Contamination Cases
Echoes of Earlier Library Contamination Cases Wednesday's closure is not the first time a Colorado public library has been forced offline by a drug-related hazmat concern. In late 2022 and early 2023, libraries in Boulder and Englewood temporarily closed amid methamphetamine contamination, as CBS News reported at the time. CBS also reported on Denver's cleaning and bathroom-monitoring practices and said the city's public health department was developing a protocol.
The discovery also lands amid a broader federal push to crack down on xylazine trafficking. On September 16, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the bipartisan Combating Illicit Xylazine Act, which would classify xylazine as a Schedule III controlled substance nationally while preserving legitimate veterinary access, according to the U.S. House of Representatives.
How the bag ended up inside the Sam Gary Branch, whether Denver Police have opened any criminal investigation, and what additional cleaning or air-quality testing the library may need before fully reopening all remain unanswered. Denver Fire's statement did not address those questions, and no additional agency has weighed in publicly as of Tuesday evening.
