Mold continues to plague Dothan fire stations

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Mold continues to plague Dothan fire stations

Dothan Eagle

By Peggy Ussery / aussery@...

June 1, 2006

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Dothan Fire Chief Sam Crawford began dealing with moldy fire

stations within months of his appointment in 2001.

Binders fill a bookcase shelf in his office with information about

environmental health and workplace safety. One is marked " Mold

Project. " City leaders thought they solved the problem two years ago

with renovations to four fire stations. The Lakewood fire station,

No. 2, was even torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. And things

have been fine at Lakewood since.

But, alas, mold reared its nasty head again.

The same four fire stations renovated two years ago - No. 4

Southside, No. 6 Northside, No. 8 West End and No. 9 Northeast - all

have had mold reappear. This time, Crawford said, the city plans to

fix the problem once and for all.

" I would hope the city could get a Christmas present of mold-free

fire stations, " Crawford said.

Past work done on the stations involved tearing out ceiling tiles

and installing vent fans to help the flow of air between the

stations' roofs and ceilings. All four stations were built in the

mid to late 1990s and designed by the same architect, who is now out

of business.

What the city didn't do in the past to address the mold problems was

change out the air conditioning systems, which are too large for the

fire stations and lead to condensation and eventually mold.

Dothan City Manager Mike West said city commissioners will be asked

to enter a contract with Polyengineering to design renovations and

oversee construction on each of the four stations. In the end, the

project could cost more than $103,000.

" I want it fixed once and for all, " West said. " We want to find a

solution where we get it once and for all. We don't want the firemen

who work in these stations to have to worry about their health and

long-term repercussions. "

Construction will likely take four to six weeks per station, which

will be done one at a time. Fire crews will be moved to other

stations during construction.

Crawford said he'd rather spend the money on other capital needs,

but correcting the situation at the fire stations takes precedent,

especially since firefighters spend a third of their lives at the

station house.

" I think they know we've made every effort to minimize health

risks, " Crawford said