Black mold signals bleak homecoming for New Orleans residents

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Black mold signals bleak homecoming for New Orleans residents

September 25, 2005

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NEW ORLEANS -- When Hurricane Rita suspended operations for one New

Orleans SWAT team, the group didn't stop working.

Instead, the hazardous materials group helped Capt. Hellmers,

one of their own, pick through what remains of his home in the Lake

View area.

" It took me two-and-a-half hours, but I found my wedding ring, "

Hellmers said, holding it up proudly.

It took him some time, but Hellmers uncovered other family

treasures, including a sapphire ring he had given his wife for their

anniversary and art work by his 8-year-old daughter, Caitlin.

" That's going to mean more to my wife than the ring, " Hellmers said.

But the $280,000 house on Vicksburg Street near Canal Boulevard and

on won't survive with other family memories. It took in about

7 feet of water and is already overrun with the black mold that is

consuming thousands of homes in New Orleans.

A next-door neighbor, a contractor, refused to give in. He had hired

workers to strip his house to the frame on the first floor and spray

everything with bleach.

But Hellmers, clad in his haz-mat suit, plastic gloves and a

breather mask, said he wasn't sure that would be healthy.

He was braving the black mold inside his house only because his

children had begged him to get something from each of their rooms.

Hellmers vowed to keep living in New Orleans during the 22 months

and 24 days between now and when he retires at age 50.

" I'll be here at least that long, " he said. " After that, I don't

know. "

At the back of the New Orleans Fire Department's haz-mat response

truck, Hellmers' colleagues carefully washed Currier and Ives dishes

and porcelains in one part bleach to six parts water.

" All these homes will have to be bulldozed, " said Enright, one

of seven haz-mat firefighters sent to New Orleans from a Chicago

Heights, Ill., unit.

Black mold spores get in behind plaster or drywall and grow into the

wood, he explained. And he said the mold, a serious health hazard,

is nearly impossible to kill.

Enright said members of the haz-mat team were eager to help their

New Orleans colleagues salvage some memories from their homes.

" These guys can't get away from it, " he said. " They can't go home

and decompress. "

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©The Shreveport Times

September 25, 2005