Mold forces tenants from their apartments

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Mold forces tenants from their apartments

1/5/07

WHEC-TV - Rochester,NY

http://www.10nbc.com/news.asp?template=item & story_id=21143

Our unseasonable weather has brought unusual problems. Mold spores

that are normally snow covered are giving allergy sufferers a tough

time. The weather and a malfunctioning pump in a Wayne County

appartment building combined to create a mold problem so bad that a

dozen people were forced out of their homes. Not only were all the

tenants evacuated from the Wolcott apartment building, but they also

got sick. Officials say it's not toxic mold, but it was enough to

cause some medical problems for everyone who lived there. One family

knows first hand the damage that the mold caused. On the outside

five-month-old Castro looks completely healthy, but if you

listen closely you can hear her wheezing. is the daughter of

Janaya Castro and Bobby . All of them lived at the Saint

Anton's Apartments in Wolcott. Earlier this week, the young family

found out about the mold from neighbors.

" The buildings being condemned and everybody has to evacuate right

now, there's mold and stuff in the basement, " said Castro.

The Wolcott Village Building Inspector says everyone living there

was suffering from the same symptoms of sinus congestion, headaches

and difficulty breathing.

suffered from the same problems and Bobby suffered from

headaches.

" Further investigating we see there's water in the basement, he sub-

pump had quit over the holiday weekend so there was a bunch of mold

build up, " said Otis Vezzose, the building inspector.

Some of the windows have been opened to ventilate the building.

Officials tell us the mold has been cleaned up and the building

could reopen within the next few days.

Vezzose says 90% of molds are not toxic and ammonia and water can

get rid of it.

He says that homeowners should be on the look out a build up of a

fungus type of thing, black, sometimes gray.

As for Bobby, Janaya, and , doctors' say they're medical

problems could be a result of the mold in their apartment building.

" The doctor had me tested for asthma because they said I could

develop asthma from it because of the long period of time I've been

there and been around it. I also have to go for a chest x ray, "

explained Castro.

Right now the family is staying with relatives in Fairhaven, because

they're not moving back into the Wolcott complex.

" We're moving out. We actually found an apartment and we're moving

in there Monday, " said Castro.

News10 NBC tried to contact the apartment building management.

A woman who answered the phone at the number listed on the front

sign of the apartment building said the number was not for the

apartment management