NORTH BEND, Washington - As if facing the hazards of asbestos while fighting fires and training wasn’t enough, now the firefighters at North Bend Station 87 have to deal with concerns about asbestos on the home front. Last week, the firefighters who work out of the station at 112 W. Second Street were relocated to another building when asbestos testing revealed asbestos in their building. The testing was done as part of remodeling work planned at the station.

Asbestos testing is a routine part of remodeling and renovations these days. Many older buildings - nearly 750,000 public buildings according to the EPA - were built with some asbestos-containing materials. While many uses of asbestos were banned in the late 1970s and early 1980s, hundreds of thousands of buildings were already built with materials that contained asbestos. Those materials ranged from roofing shingles to patching plaster to pipe insulation and floor tiles. In all, nearly 3,000 products containing asbestos were sold to the general public and to contractors in the construction industry.

As those buildings age, the asbestos used in their construction can become a health hazard. According to the EPA, as long as the materials containing asbestos remain intact, asbestos is not a danger. It is only when those materials are worn, broken or damaged in any way that asbestos may be released into the air to become a dangerous environmental pollutant and health hazard.

Inhaled or ingested asbestos fibers have been shown to raise the risk of developing lung cancer and a number of other types of cancer. Asbestos exposure is also the only known cause of a rare cancer called mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the lining of the lungs, heart or abdominal cavity. The asbestos fibers also can scar the lungs and lead to a condition called asbestosis, which is progressive and always fatal.

Those fibers are often released into the air when older buildings are demolished or undergo renovations. For that reason, the EPA in conjunction with local environmental and health agencies closely regulates and monitors demolition, renovation and removal of asbestos containing materials.

Firefighters from the North Bend 87 fire station have been relocated to the North Bend Public Works building where they will continue to answer calls. Paramedics connected with the station have moved to the Snoqualmie Fire headquarters and will respond to emergency calls from there.

A spokesman for the fire department said that he wasn’t sure when the building was built. The original testing for asbestos was done Wednesday and was negative. However the department discovered the asbestos when additional tests were carried out. The further tests turned up asbestos, and the administration took the precaution of evacuating the building and relocated the firefighters.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Jobsite Exposure, Washington. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.