FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Butler Township police uncovered a methamphetamine lab inside a home during an odor investigation Monday afternoon.
Police Chief Edward Tarantelli said police and firefighters were called to a home at 406 Catherine St. about 12:30 p.m., where they determined there were materials inside used to manufacture the drug.
Inside the home at the time were owner Duane Maurer, 50, and Debra Reedy, who celebrates her 60th birthday today and lives there as well.
Tarantelli said several other people were inside, including Anna Reedy, 42, of Pottsville. The chief said drug charges are pending against Maurer and possibly others who were inside the home.
As the rain fell Monday night, police blocked off Catherine Street at Route 61 while waiting for a state police Clandestine Lab Response Team to arrive from a previous assignment in Tobyhanna.
A member of the Schuylkill County Drug Task Force said the operation was a "one bottle" type operation and that at time the items were discovered, the lab was "operational but inactive."
Tarantelli said officers and firefighters were at the home for odor investigations before but Monday, firefighters from Englewood used more sophisticated equipment to detect the materials involved.
"The monitors used in the past were not capable of detecting these materials," he said.
Fountain Springs firefighters assisted in closing off Catherine Street and providing lighting for investigators.