Newton, Massachusetts - An independent report produced by two Newton citizens indicates that all six of the city’s fire stations are plagued by health and safety issues.

The study was carried out by structural engineer Steve Siegel and architect Mark Sangiolo, and concluded that “Some conditions we viewed are presently dangerous to building occupants, and we decided that our report would be most useful if it focused on those items.” Siegel said, “we expect them [firefighters] to serve us and keep us safe, and I feel that we have an obligation to house them in safe facilities.”

While the report conducted by Sangiolo and Siegel concludes that “the building structures are in substantially good shape,” they do have plenty of problems.

The two researchers found evidence that the fire stations had fallen into disrepair in some places, with peeling paint, broken floor tiles and windows, leaking plumbing fixtures, and inadequate heating. In addition, they noticed that the fire stations lack adequate exhaust systems to expel potentially carcinogenic exhaust fumes.

Six years ago, firefighter Michael Flynn died from a cancer that was believed to be caused by exposure to exhaust fumes. The city subsequently spent $140,000 on new exhaust systems, but the research indicates the expenditure may not have been enough to properly fit all six fire stations.

The report also mentions the ongoing problems that many of the fire stations have with asbestos. In April, during a remodeling project in fire station three, three firefighters were exposed to friable asbestos, and earlier in May, friable asbestos was removed from fire station 2.

The firefighters who were exposed to asbestos visited a doctor shortly after the exposure incident but due to the long latency period of asbestos cancers such as mesothelioma, there is no way of knowing whether the firefighters were exposed to a dangerous amount of asbestos.

The city will present its own report this week, and another city-commissioned report carried out in April supports the findings of Siegel and Sangiolo.

The city’s report recommended that all six stations receive repairs to steam, electrical and plumbing systems, as well as to roofs and windows. Each of the stations is awaiting substantial improvements which will be made over the next ten years, and which will include asbestos abatement.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Jobsite Exposure, Massachusetts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.