Cleanup complete this fall
Bricks will be gone by September, but hole may not be filled
Friday, May 11, 2007
GALESBURG - The rubble from the O.T. Johnson building fire should be cleaned up by September, a city official said today."It might not all be filled in at that time," said Roy Parkin, director of community development, but the bricks and other debris should be gone by then.
The effort can push ahead now that a report from a consulting engineer regarding the presence of asbestos on the site has reached Parkin's hands.
"I had hoped that when they did the test there would be no asbestos," Parkin said.
Some bricks left from the January 2006 fire are contaminated for sure, but even bricks given a clean bill of health will be tested again during the cleanup operation.
Contaminated bricks will be hauled to the landfill and buried. Others will be stockpiled on the site before being tested again.
"Anything they want to recycle ... will still go through a decontamination process," said Dennis Hancock, an inspector with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which examined the engineer's report to the city.
Asbestos was used in building products and insulation for decades until it was found to be a carcinogen in the 1970s, according to information from the federal EPA Web site. Studies of people who worked closely with asbestos in factories and shipyards showed an increase risk of two types of lung cancer - mesothelioma and asbestosis.
These studies prompted laws prohibiting the use of asbestos in materials, but also required cleanup of even small amounts of asbestos.
Parkin said he will now prepare specifications for bidders, who will be given the opportunity to offer bids both for taking all the bricks to a landfill and for salvaging some of them.
"All of the material on the south side of the property is considered contaminated with asbestos and it will have to be taken to the landfill," he said.
On the other side of the property, bricks may have further use if they are clean or can be easily cleaned of asbestos, he said. Bidders may be able to reduce the city's cost by selling the bricks to an interested buyer, Parkin said.
Salvaged bricks also save money because the Knox County Landfill charges a fee for disposal.
Making the effort more time-sensitive is the wall of First Bank, which will be exposed when a remaining wall from the burned building's west side is torn down. The bank's wall, Parkin said, will require some work before the onset of winter.
"The timing will be something we'll have to consider," he said.
