308 Third St. before demolition.
Photo from Final Joint Task Force Report
SNOHOMISH — It’s possible 64 firefighters from three agencies who did scenario training inside the former Steuber’s Distributing Co. offices at Third and Pine were exposed to asbestos. A final task force report couldn’t rule it out.
It was never lit on fire, though, and the two houses the department did light on fire had all asbestos removed before their training burns, from the Tribune’s review of the final report published Oct. 2.
The asbestos disturbed inside the Steuber’s office building posed no public risk, the report reads.
Snohomish Fire didn’t know there was more asbestos at the time. Their asbestos testing contractor had told them differently, from reading the report.
In November, Fire District 4 had hired an asbestos testing and abatement company from south Everett that said it was only in the roof. The roof was abated of asbestos ahead of firefighters being inside.
The revelation happened when a second abatement contractor, from Mount Vernon, re-tested the building and found asbestos in places including the drywall and window caulking from when it was remodeled in 1950.
The second contractor was hired after the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said the first company’s asbestos reports were inadequate for the district’s plans to do live fire training on four houses.
In April, the second company retested multiple buildings some two weeks before the live fire burns. The two companies also used different analysis labs.
Snohomish Fire Chief Don Waller reaffirmed what was in the report.
“There are no signs of any level of exposure that poses a greater risk than our standard professional risk” from fighting fires, Waller said. He added: “We do know there was no risk to the public.”
The block has since been razed. It’s set to be redeveloped into a future fire station and Snohomish’s future City Hall, police department and public works facilities.
Firefighters from Snohomish Fire, Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue and South County Fire did training exercises inside the office and warehouse building at 308 Third St.
The three agencies promptly formed the safety committee task force, and Labor & Industries (L&I) was called. L&I said to treat it like an accident, the report said.
Asbestos is mostly banned for construction materials these days. Fine if left undisturbed, its fibers are a toxic material that can lead to lung cancer, mesothelioma and digestive cancers if inhaled.
The asbestos inside Steuber’s office was disturbed when a team cut into the Steuber’s offices to remove a heavy safe. Firefighters from the three agencies then used it for hose-spraying exercises inside using smoke machines.
In September, months after the training, the firefighters’ gear worn during the trainings was tested by an analysis lab. The lab found zero detectable asbestos on their coats and pants, a sheet in the final report showed.
“All signs point to very little or no exposure from all our testing,” Waller said. “However, since we cannot test every piece of equipment and be 100% certain that no one did not get some level of exposure, we will not say ‘no exposure.’ We can simply say there was a potential.”
Two other houses that the department scratched off its burn list also had asbestos. The department determined the work to remove the asbestos and then essentially rebuild the houses to be ready for burn training was more than it was worth. Inside those two, one had it in the drywall and the floor, and the other had it in various spots.
The Joint Safety Committee issued a statement that “regardless of how small the risk, we must do everything in our power to prevent a situation like this from happening again. We hope answers from this report will help us achieve that because this training helps make our communities safer.”
The final report is about 160 pages. The Tribune obtained the final report through a public records request.
