Barwick Mills in LaFayette cleanup to begin next month and be done after first of year EPD official estimates cost at about $850,000
After nine months of waiting for Barwick Mills site owner Drennon Crutchfield to sign an Environmental Protection Agency consent order, the city of LaFayette will finally see the burnedout mill cleaned up.
Scheduled to begin at the beginning of October, the cleanup effort should be fast and include removing 50,000 gallons of water left behind when firefighters battled the Nov. 14, 2015, blaze, said EPA onsite coordinator David Andrews. More than 150,000 gallons of water was used to put out the blaze.
Demolition will follow the cleanup efforts, and Andrews predicts the entire operation should require about 3-4 months of work and be completed by January.
The fire led to electrical explosions and set the historic carpet mill, which closed in the early 1990s, ablaze in an area where latex was stored.
The fire destroyed the southern portion of the 250,000-square-foot mill, which was occupied by Ashgan Products, a Chattanoogabased product development company specializing in reusing biodegradable products.
The fire sent out huge plumes of black smoke with unknown contaminants and pollutants, and resulted in the nearby Chattooga River turning blue, apparently from runoff of water used to put out the blaze.
Due to concerns about asbestos entering the atmosphere, city officials advised nearby residents to stay indoors during firefighters’ multi-day response to the scene.
Andrews said any and all particulate matter would be monitored at and/or around the site as the cleanup takes place.
A water wall will be used to keep any possible airborne asbestos at bay when material is removed from the site. The water curtain works like a snow machine, spray- ing a fine mist that would prevent asbestos from entering the atmosphere.
Asbestos was discovered throughout the site, including the ceiling tiles and wrapping around the plumbing, Andrews said. He estimates the cleanup will cost Crutchfield, a Dalton businessman, about $850,000.
Andrews said there have never been any reports made to the either EPA or Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of an asbestos abatement or removal ever being conducted on the mill.
As a precautionary measure, Andrews discourages onlookers from visiting the site while the cleanup is underway.
“We want to get it cleaned up,” LaFayette city manager David Hamilton said. “It’s in EPA’s hands.”
Hamilton said the city might never know the cause of the fire because it burned with such intense heat that no such determination was possible.
Andrews said the company hired by Crutchfield to perform the work has a good reputation.
“We have been very anxious to start cleanup for nine months now,” Hamilton said. “And we want to see it done right.”