AUBURN – Workers were evacuated Monday from a warehouse after they discovered smoke seeping from a container, police said.

The incident was reported at 7:50 a.m., prompting police to close Rodman Road in the heart of the city’s industrial area off outer Washington Street.

By 9:30 a.m., the warehouse of Safe Handling Inc. was back in operation and the road reopened.

The container, made of paper, contained sodium hydrosulfite, a nonhazardous material used in paper, paperboard and food-packaging products, Deputy Police Chief Jason Moen said.

Firefighters moved the smoldering container to a containment area at the company’s main warehouse and doused it until it was extinguished, he said.

The chemical, which was shipped as a powder, never was released from the container, Moen said.

The company’s policies required that workers leave the area temporarily until the air cleared. The fumes were not hazardous, but could have irritated skin or eyes. The container never left the warehouse, he said.

“There was no danger to the public’s safety whatsoever,” Moen said.

He said fire investigators planned to study what caused the container to start smoldering in an effort to lessen the likelihood of it happening again.

Safe Handling Inc. is an intermodal facility where goods are transferred from rail to tractor-trailer containers, Moen said.