Mold Makes Oregon Station Uninhabitable

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Mold Makes Oregon Station Uninhabitable

Updated: 03-09-2007 11:02:29 AM

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STUART TOMLINSON

The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)

GRESHAM, Ore.-- The inside of Gresham Fire Station 76 --closed two

weeks ago because of a potentially toxic mold buildup --resembles a

messy dorm room.

Beds in small rooms used for sleeping quarters are stripped of

bedding. Furniture is piled willy-nilly inside a workout room full

of exercise equipment. A moldy loaf of bread sits on the kitchen

counter. A dehumidifier hums in the hallway.

Anyone who dares enter the one-story building at Southeast 302nd

Avenue and Dodge Park Boulevard must don a face mask.

At the far north end of the small, cramped building, black mold

creeps up the face of a concrete block wall; its outlines take the

shape of lockers that have been muscled out of the way.

A dirty pillow --the equivalent of a canary in a coal mine --sits in

the corner. Not long ago, a firefighter casually tossed the pillow

on top of one of the lockers. When he went to retrieve it, it had

stuck to mold on the walls.

The pillow incident was coupled with nagging complaints of upper

respiratory problems and sinus pain by firefighters living and

working 24-hour shifts in the building.

After meeting with firefighters and their union representatives on

Feb. 20, officials shut the station and had samples of the mold sent

to a lab to be tested. Results will take another week to 10 days.

For the past two weeks, firefighters have used a Multnomah County

Emergency Management mobile command trailer for office space.

Visitors have to duck under wires and phone lines that snake from

the station to the trailer.

Another trailer is used for sleeping, but fire officials admit the

situation is not ideal.

Those who work there say during November's heavy rains, rain not

only came through the flat roof in the fire station's locker room,

but through the kitchen ceiling and other places.

" They kept trying to patch the roof, but after they do, any place

they walk on it just leaks again, " Lt. Kirk said.

said water also comes from below. The building sits on a slab,

and during heavy rains, water from the water table --which is close

to the surface --seeps under the floors. Runoff from a storage

building added to the site a few years ago to hold wildland

firefighting equipment pours right onto the ground next to the

station.

To give private rooms to women firefighters, the station was

partitioned, which cut down air circulation, said. The

building was always damp, he said.

Multnomah County Fire District 10, which provides fire service to

about 8,000 residents in unincorporated areas of Multnomah County,

owns the building. Gresham firefighters also work out of District 10

stations in Troutdale --Station 74 --and on Northeast Halsey at

192nd Avenue out of Station 75, the department's training center.

Both those buildings, too, are aging and prone to leaks, dry rot and

other water-related issues, officials said.

" This is just the tip of the iceberg, " Mike McKeel, past chairman

and current board member for Fire District 10, said of Station

76. " We came to conclusion that we're probably going to have to

build a new station, but it's not going to be at the same site

because the lot is too small, "

McKeel said under the agreement with the city, Gresham is supposed

to monitor the District 10 station buildings, and perform and pay

for routine maintenance. The district is responsible for major

repairs. A week after Station 76 was closed, the city issued a stop-

work order on a plan to resurface the station's flat roof. Last

week, roofers came and removed bundles of tar paper that had been

stacked on the roof.

Greg s, president of the Gresham Professional Firefighters

Association Union Local 1062 said the building will have to be

habitable " before we put people back in. This is not just a

workplace, it truly is our house for 24 hours a day, " he said. Both

McKeel and Gresham Deputy Chief Jim Klum said a new station possibly

could be built on the campus at nearby Sam Barlow High School.

" If the tests turn out bad, and the building requires a major

remodel, we'll look at asking Barlow, " Klum said. " We're looking at

a lot of alternatives. I'm up to my elbows in permits and proposals. "