SEBASTIAN COUNTY : Fire cleanup costs studied
Posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2008
FORT CHAFFEE — Sebastian County officials have gathered the data needed to calculate the cost of cleaning up the asbestos-contaminated ash and debris from last month’s fire that destroyed more than 150 buildings at the old Army fort.
Tests of the ash and debris conducted last week by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality determined the amount of asbestos in the debris ranged from 1 percent to 3 percent. Tonya Roberts, deputy coordinator of Sebastian County’s Office of Emergency Management, said the agency considers any concentration of more than 1 percent asbestos as contaminated.
“We still don’t know what it will take to get rid of it,” said Jerry Roberts, Sebastian County’s emergency management coordinator. Jerry Roberts and Tonya Roberts are not related.
The air at the 100-acre site was tested Saturday by Environmental Enterprise Group Inc. of Russellville. It revealed an asbestos level of less than 0. 002 fibers per cubic centimeter, a Monday news release from the county emergency management office said.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards allow workers in enclosed spaces contaminated with asbestos to work in levels of up to 0. 1 fibers per cubic centimeter in the air.
“As a result of the air monitoring tests and expert opinions from EEG Inc., ADEQ and the Arkansas Department of Health, we feel the citizens who work in facilities around the debris site as well as citizens that live in Sebastian County are safe,” the news release stated.
Even though the air on the site is safe, people should stay away because of ground contamination, Tonya Roberts said.
The area has been fenced off, some of it with razor wire, and is patrolled, she said.
Still, she said, some people have been spotted on the site walking around and taking pictures of what remained of the 155 World War II-era buildings that burned Jan. 29. The buildings were built using asbestos and lead-based paint.
Some 6, 000 of Fort Chaffee’s 72, 000 acres were declared surplus in 1995. The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority was established to develop recommendations for using and developing the property, now called Chaffee Crossing, which contained more than 600 World War II-era buildings.
Police have warned that besides the danger of asbestos contamination, the site is dangerous because of the many chimneys that remained standing after the wind-swept fire.
Tonya Roberts said officials will begin to share the numbers they have with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine the cost of the cleanup and the level of disaster funds that may be available to help pay for the work. County officials initially estimated the cleanup could cost $ 4 million, but Tonya Roberts said Monday the total cost will likely will be much higher.
Officials also will begin to seek bids and quotes from firms qualified to clean up contaminated sites.
Doug Szenher, spokesman for the Environmental Quality Department, said Monday that a licensed contractor would have to be hired who would have workers certified to do the work.
“It will be a fairly significantly involved process because of the amount of material out there,” Szenher said. “We’re confident the people in charge of the operation at the base are aware of what needs to be done.”
Tonya Roberts said the workers will have to wear special clothing and that the tons of contaminated soil and debris will have to be put in special containers and disposed of at probably more than one Class 1 landfill. Fort Smith operates a Class 1 landfill.
She said disposing of normal construction debris costs about $ 30 per ton. Asbestos contamination could quadruple that cost, she said.
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