The Pilbara has a new public enemy: mould/ABC news

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The Pilbara has a new public enemy: mould

By Ebonnie Spriggs

Australia

Updated Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:52pm AEDT

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/14/3163662.htm

The one year old South Hedland Police Station has been forced to close because

of mould (Ebbonie Spriggs)

Map: South Hedland 6722 When we think about mould, we tend to picture a piece of

old fruit left in a school bag or bread left too long on the counter.

We do not usually associate mould with the closing of an entire police station,

or moving people out of their homes.

But that is what has happened in the Pilbara.

After a wetter than normal summer in the region, mould has set in and it is

causing havoc for many businesses and residents.

A new police station has been forced to shut up shop because of the fungus.

The South Hedland Police Station is just over one year old but after excessive

rain, mould has moved in.

Superintendent Ballantyne says the mouldy station could be off limits for

up to two weeks.

" It's within a number of rooms in the building and those rooms have been sealed

so our officers are unable to use them until they are clean; there's about four

locations within the station that are subject to that, " he said.

He says officers working at the South Hedland station have been moved to Port

Hedland while the problem is being fixed.

" We've actually utilised the Port Hedland police station during the building of

the current police station to provide a service to both the communities of Port

and South Hedland and that went without a hitch, the public generally shouldn't

see any difference at all " .

The Karratha Police Station is also experiencing a mould issue.

Mould attacks

The mould is not just putting our police officers out, the offender has struck

at the Karratha community library and cafe.

The library was forced to close after mould was found growing on the books.

The Director of Corporate Services Craig Holland says the books and building

will be treated.

" We're envisaging it's going to be closed for another month, " he said.

The Walkington Theatre in the same building is also out of action.

Not only is mould toying with the South Hedland law enforcement and limiting

Karratha residents' entertainment options, it is kicking people out of their

homes.

Evicted

Elise Batchelor has had to move out of her home in the Karratha suburb of

Nickol.

" We noticed mould creeping out of the walls, " she said.

" It was actually on the master bedroom side of the bathroom, there was a large

corner of the room where there was a black patch of mould on the walls and when

you lifted up the carpet it was all mouldy and rotten underneath. "

She says the house was examined and ruled unsafe.

" It was deemed unfit to live in and so we left the house and it was emptied of

furniture, and then the plan is to proceed to take out all the carpets and

renovate the bathrooms, " she said.

Ms Batchelor says the house will also be fumigated.

" We've actually been able to move to another house we were living in in Port

Hedland and we can now leave that house in Nickol to be emptied and have the

work done on it so that it's habitable again, " she said.

Health effects

It all seems a little extreme but Llew Withers from the Health Department says

mould can have some nasty health effects.

" They [symptoms] can be simply from a sneeze or itchy eyes, tiredness, through

to more complex ones like headaches or migraines, a cough, or even respiratory

illnesses, " he said.

He says anyone suffering from a mould-related illness should talk to their

doctor immediately.

Mr Withers says if there is water seeping into a building and it is the right

humidity then mould will grow.

He says the department has recently changed its advice about treating mould.

" Initially we had it that bleach was the only method but in recent times we've

found that the use of vinegar as a treatment method or tea tree oil as a

treatment method is more effective than using the chlorine solution, " he said.

He says to try the local options first.

" If you can remove it in the room you are in that's very good, but if you can't

remove it you may need to do more investigation and that may be a specialist's

role to do " .

Tags: weather, rainfall, wa, south-hedland-6722

First posted Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:51pm AEDT

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