Mold Makes Mulberry Firefighters Homeless

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Mold Makes Mulberry Firefighters Homeless

By Rick Rousos

The Ledger - Lakeland,FL*

http://www.theledger.com/article/20071126/BREAKING/71126011

MULBERRY | Mold has forced city firefighters to spend only limited

time in the living quarters of their fire station.

Water from a leaky toilet pipe seeped underneath carpeting and

damaged particle board flooring in a manufactured house about the

size double-wide mobile home.

The house, which is less than three years old, is right next to the

decades-old fire station on Northwest Ninth Street.

The leak, and the damage it caused, couldn't be seen until carpeting

was removed.

The problem was discovered when the foot of a Mulberry firefighter

went through the floor.

The fix will be about $15,000 and take about a month or more to

complete.

In the meantime, firefighters are using the old station for living

quarters, where they sleep when they can.

Some are showering in the damaged bathroom and others are using the

Badcock Home Furnishing Centers & More gym shower.

Firefighters have been told they can go in and out of the mobile

home until the work to clean up mold and mildew begins in earnest.

The firefighters have a microwave and refrigerator, but that's about

it.

Their meals at The Fish Place downtown are being paid for by the

city.