BETHEL – As many as 50 city workers and volunteers may have been exposed to asbestos or other hazardous materials while responding to the Nov. 3 school fire in Bethel, City Manager Ann Capela said Tuesday.
It's unlikely that any exposure was long enough to cause health issues, which can take decades to materialize, a state public health official said.
Capela said the city still is obligated by worker safety rules to notify employees and volunteers of possible exposure so they can decide whether any testing or treatment is needed.
The group includes city fire crews, volunteer firefighters, city water truck drivers who delivered water to holding tanks at the scene and private operators of heavy equipment that cut the school in two to make a firewall, she said. More than 250,000 gallons of water were used, all delivered to the fire scene by truck since that part of Bethel doesn't have piped water.
The city is identifying the affected workers and volunteers and intends to set up a meeting with an environmental specialist so they can get questions answered quickly, Capela said.
But they may not have reason to worry, said Ali Hamade, a state environmental public health program manager.
"To put things into perspective, we do not believe the short-term exposure … would be associated with any adverse long-term risks," he said.
The city and the Lower Kuskokwim School District on Tuesday took part in a fire aftermath teleconference that involved various local, state and federal agencies offering assistance.
The school district intends to bring in an environmental specialist to test the site for asbestos and other containments, a necessary step before the district can enter the building and evaluate whether any part of it is salvageable, Superintendent Dan Walker said.
The district knew there was asbestos in the building, which was built in 1962 and housed two schools, he said. There is asbestos in many schools and other structures from that era and into the early 1980s, Walker said. It isn't considered problematic as long as it isn't disturbed, environmental experts say.
The district had done a survey of the asbestos, as required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But the district, scurrying to make sure students were safe, may not have flagged its presence to the city as the fire raged last week.
Fire crews (including volunteers) wore protective breathing apparatuses, which virtually eliminates the risk of inhaling asbestos when done correctly, Fire Chief Bill Howell said.
But water truck drivers and heavy equipment operators didn't have that gear, Capela said. Had the asbestos been flagged, it's hard to know what could have been done differently, she said. Nearby residents may have been warned to stay indoors.
Two investigators from the state fire marshal's office spent just a day in Bethel investigating the fire. They cut short their work once they learned of the asbestos. The state office said it is not equipped to investigate a fire involving asbestos. Its investigators are not certified in hazardous materials and they lack the proper protective equipment, according to the office.
The school district said it is working to keep the site safe. It ordered fencing from Anchorage to secure the site because there weren't enough materials in Bethel, the superintendent said. The district intends to dismantle the school playground equipment so children aren't lured to the debris field.
The EPA recommends that debris in this situation be kept wet and covered so it doesn't go airborne. The weather is helping. Rain has kept the site wet and fresh snow now is covering it.
The big debris pile won't end up in the city of Bethel's landfill, Capela said. The landfill is not approved for toxic waste, she said.