Despite early speculation about the discovery of a methamphetamine lab near the state house, sources within the Boston Fire Department say the woman holed up in her Temple Street apartment is no drug manufacturer.

Two firemen on duty with the department’s H2 Special Unit who did not wish to be identified said the woman involved in the standoff could not have been producing the drug without leaving a trail of evidence.

“It ain’t no meth lab. We’d of smelled it. We went up there and checked the meter. She might be on drugs, but she ain’t cookin’ em,” one fireman said, referring to the fact that the apartment’s gas consumption meter shows that an insufficient quantity has been used for mass production of the drug. At 10:45 pm, Fox 25 reported that police had surrounded a “meth lab,” and several other sources indicated that a chemical spill had occurred.

Police on the scene would not provide information about the presence of any chemicals. The incident began shortly before 8:30 pm, Tuesday, when a tenant in 21 Temple Street called the fire department to report a suspicious odor. Officers soon surrounded the building, followed by crews from the mobile decontamination unit and over a dozen emergency response vehicles.

According to Superintendent Rafael Ruiz of the BPD, the hazmat teams were a precautionary measure. He added that police had not been inside the apartment and that there was at least one woman inside.

Tenants who live across the street from the apartment say there has been little activity throughout the evening. “The lights have been on in the two kitchens all night, but nothing is going on,” said one man who had been watching developments for several hours.

Some rumors floating through the crowd placed the woman as a chemist with connections to MIT and Harvard who had been storing ingredients for methamphetamine in her apartment. One resident of the building was previously employed by the Harvard School of Public Health and Boston University, though it is unknown if she is the suspect involved in the stand-off.

Correction: Due to an error, That Hottness printed the name of a potential suspect in the standoff. Her name has been removed from the story, pending further comment from the Boston Police Department.