By Scott Kraus
Morning Call
Copyright 2007 The Morning Call, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Asbestos in the rubble of three Mohawk Street homes destroyed in a December gas explosion has complicated cleanup there and left one demolition contractor saying he is stuck holding the bill for extra costs.
The December, 9 explosion in the south Allentown neighborhood leveled three homes, ruined a fourth and seriously damaged four others. It was triggered when a UGI subcontractor who was removing a gas meter unscrewed the wrong plug from a gas line, filling 789 Mohawk St. with natural gas.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is investigating the explosion.
Because the blast spread building materials such as floor tiles, shingles and siding throughout the rubble, the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered demolition contractors to treat all the rubble as if it potentially contained asbestos, said Mark Carmon, a regional spokesman for the agency.
“Given the circumstances, we felt it would be prudent to handle that as asbestos-containing,” Carmon said.
Carmon said that while the risk to the public is probably very low, there was no way to know if emergency responders or neighbors were at risk at the time of the explosion. Because the best way to contain asbestos is to wet it down, firefighters’ efforts to extinguish the blaze probably helped prevent the asbestos from becoming airborne, he said.
“Normally, the problems with friable asbestos would be in areas that were enclosed and not out in the ambient atmosphere,” Carmon said. “As far as the emergency responders, without any samples taken by anybody on the scene it would really be impossible at the time of the incident” to tell if exposure was a risk.
UGI spokesman Anthony Cox said the utility has not received any information that would suggest anyone living in the neighborhood, its own employees or firefighters would have been exposed to dangerous levels of the substance.
“We were told throughout the time they were doing the sampling that there was nothing above the acceptable residential level,” Cox said. “We had no reason to be concerned. From what I have been told, asbestos-related issues are generally long-term, exposure-type things.”
Allentown Fire Chief Scott Lindenmuth said firefighters working to extinguish the fire would be protected by their respirators during that process. And he said the department dumped thousands of gallons of water on the homes.
But he said he had not heard that the site had been determined to have potentially airborne asbestos and would investigate the extent of the contamination to determine if any of his firefighters were at risk of exposure in the aftermath.
Tom Williams, proprietor of Cityline Construction, which purchased 791 Mohawk St. and is handling demolition for the owner of 789 Mohawk St., was initially attempting to separate out materials that contained asbestos, but state inspectors required him to stop and instead treat all the debris as potentially asbestos-containing.
Williams said UGI has refused to cover the additional cost of collecting and disposing of the rubble that is not covered by the two properties’ homeowners insurance.
Disposing of debris that has been determined to contain asbestos is more costly, Williams said, because he must haul all the debris to pricier landfills that are certified to handle such waste.
UGI spokesman Cox said that to his knowledge the utility’s insurance company has not received a request from the homeowners’ insurance companies to pay for the work.
“I’m a little puzzled as to why Cityline would even be getting involved,” Cox said.
Anthony Stellar, owner of Stellar Construction, which has been retained to handle demolition and reconstruction of three other homes on Mohawk — 783, 785 and 787 — said insurance policies are covering the additional costs on his projects.
Williams said he wants to make sure the job is done correctly, so he proceeded with the cleanup by DEP standards. “We made the site as safe as we possibly could,” Williams said, adding that the cost of the cleanup will probably top $35,000