Hants County firefighters tackle fire at house undergoing asbestos abatement
Truro’s Clean Heroes brought in to decontaminate bunker gear following Sunday's call
An unoccupied home that once housed the maintenance person working at the Minas Basin Pulp and Power hydroelectric plant in St. Croix has been extensively damaged by fire.
Ryan Richard, Brooklyn’s fire chief, said they received a call shortly before 11 a.m. Feb. 27 about a structure fire on Salmon Hole Dam Road in St. Croix.
“It was unoccupied, but it
maintenance used to house the guy that used to look after the dam,” said Richard.
A company was in the process of asbestos abetment at the house, but workers were not present at the time of the fire, he said.
“On my arrival, we had heavy smoke and visible fire in the basement and the main floor,” said Richard, of the building that he estimated to be 20 feet by 20 feet in size.
Firefighters from Brooklyn, Windsor and Hantsport responded to the call, and they started with an interior fire attack.
“It was a challenging suppression due to the integrity of the floor,” he said.
The road to the building was also slippery, with limited space for trucks due to its narrow construction and the presence of snowbanks.
Additionally, the call had a known health hazard: the presence of asbestos — a naturally occurring mineral that was once commonly used in home building materials.
“Asbestos is very toxic and is cancer-causing,” said Richard.
When inhaled, asbestos fibres, which are not visible to the naked eye, can become permanently lodged inside a person’s body, leading to
including several known cancers, mesothelioma.
“After salvage and overhaul was complete, we used our portable decontamination system on scene, and later had an outside agency called Clean Heroes, who deployed their unit to our station to begin the process of extracting contaminants.,” he continued.
Bunker gear from Brooklyn and Windsor firefighters were cleaned by the Trurobased cleaning company following the fire.
Jamie Juteau, Windsor’s fire chief, said firefighters are far more conscientious now of the risks associated with fighting fires and the requirements for cleaning gear.
“Cancer is a major issue with the fire service. Many years ago, nobody gave it (asbestos exposure) a second thought. Now it’s looked at totally differently,” Juteau said.
“Even if we don’t know for sure (that there’s asbestos present), we’ll make some general assumptions based on the age of the house and the type of insulation that is in it,” Juteau added.
Ensuring gear is properly cleaned following a fire call helps mitigate risks associated with potentially letting asbestos particles dry out and become airborne.
“We basically err on the side of caution that it may be there and we go accordingly,” Juteau said.
Richard said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. He said while the building is still standing, there was extensive fire and water damage.
Firefighters were on scene for about three hours.
Richard said in February, Brooklyn responded to 38 calls — with some of the calls being quite physically and emotionally taxing. He said the auto and mutual aid response has been welcomed.
“I’d like to pass on my appreciation over the last
month to all of our neighbouring departments. It’s been extremely challenging with a lot of serious incidents and fatalities,” he said.
Two days earlier, firefighters were called out to another house fire in St. Croix, which resulted in a fatality.