NEW HAVEN, Conn. - As firefighters weigh concerns that they may have been exposed to hazardous asbestos fibers while fighting a December 12 fire that destroyed six businesses and an entire downtown block, the city of New Haven finds itself wrestling with the building owner over its demolition.

On December 12, a fire that has been described as “the worst downtown fire in decades”, blazed out of control for hours. Up to 65 city firefighters battled the blaze for hours, many of them soaking the building from outside without face masks. Those firefighters were exposed to the acrid smoke for hours, say city and fire officials.

The following morning, the city took air samples in the burned building and sent them off to the lab for analysis. Mayor John DeStefano announced the grim results a few days later: two of the samples had returned positive for asbestos.

The news puts a crimp in the city’s plans for demolishing the building, since the presence of asbestos requires special precautions to prevent releasing airborne asbestos fibers into the environment where they might be inhaled or ingested by the buildings’ neighbors. Once a very popular building material, asbestos is now known to be a deadly carcinogen that can cause a variety of illnesses, from lung scarring and pleural adhesions to lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma.

Before the results of the testing returned, the mayor had estimated that demolition of the building could cost between $200,000 and $500,000 - with the higher figure applying if asbestos abatement measures had to be taken. With the report in, the city began demolition of the building, following appropriate safety measures.

However, the demolition hit a bump when the building’s owner, Paul Denz, filed for an injunction to stop the city’s actions. Denz filed suit on December 20 against the city of New Haven. His suit asks that the city stop all demolition activities on the burned property.

According to DeStefano, Denz refuses to cover the costs of cleanup and removal of the asbestos. It is his intention, he says, to cover the ravaged property with plywood and erect barriers.

DeStefano says that this solution is unacceptable. City engineers agree, stating that stopping the demolition only increases the chances of asbestos exposure.

Meanwhile, fire Chief Michael Grant of the New Haven Fire Department stated that every firefighter who was part of the fire-fighting efforts has been given the chance to go on record about their possible exposure to asbestos. This can be important if problems develop in the future. Most of the problems associated with asbestos do not begin to show symptoms for years. Mesothelioma, one of the most serious of the possible results of asbestos contamination, can take decades after exposure to develop.

In the meantime, the mayor is annoyed that Denz’ motives appear to be motivated by money rather than the public good. The city wants the building cleaned up, he said, and if need be, they might try to claim it by eminent domain in order to see that it’s done.

“Paul Denz, the property owner’s, motives here are clear, and they’re one thing - they’re financial. That’s not acceptable to the public safety of the city of New Haven,” DeStefano said.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.