Council Gives Approval To Remove Mold From BA Fire Station

Mold at Fire Station One in Broken Arrow should be gone soon after the Broken Arrow City Council gave the go-ahead for a company to do the remediation work.

Tuesday, August 18th 2015, 11:18 pm

By: News On 6


Mold at Fire Station One in Broken Arrow should be gone soon after the Broken Arrow City Council gave the go-ahead for a company to do the remediation work Tuesday.

Work is expected to start in about two weeks and firefighters should be back in the station by mid-October. Until then, signs are up outside letting people know it's closed down for health reasons.

The Central Fire Station in Broken Arrow has been empty for over two months after the station flooded in late May.

6/3/2015 Related Story: Mold Shuts Down Broken Arrow Fire Station

Tests revealed mold was in the walls, floors and air ducts throughout the two-story station as a result of multiple floods over the years.

Chief Jeremy Moore said, "We are doing a very aggressive cleaning cycle and making sure all of it is out of there and remediated before we put crews back in there."

During a city council meeting Tuesday, councilors voted to award the project to Voy Construction - a general contractor based in Tulsa.

The company said the remediation and construction costs would be about $80,000.

"In some areas we are actually going behind the Sheetrock and putting in new studs where they were heavily damaged,” Moore said.

All of the ceiling tiles and air ducts will also be replaced during the six-week project.

Some former firefighters told News On 6 mold has been a problem at the station for over a decade. And, although Moore wasn't part of the Broken Arrow Fire Department back then, he believes this will fix the reoccurring problem for good.

"We feel like we are aggressively dealing with the problem and making sure we don't have water coming back into the station. That's the source of the problem during heavy rains in the past, sandbags have been used to keep the rain out, but it hasn't always worked,” he said.

Moore said part of the on-going project will also be improving the drainage system outside.

He said, "We are going to be doing some extensive dirt work on the side of the station as well, putting in some drainage systems to make sure water doesn't come up against the building again."

Moore said no one has complained of health issues, however, retired firefighters we have talked to say they have dealt with health problems they believe were caused by working in a moldy fire station.

This is the third time in 15 years mold has been found inside.

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