Debris, smoke from fire impacts Libby residents

With ash and debris landing in yards across town and with smoke lingering in the air, Libby residents expressed health concerns following the huge fire that on Thursday night destroyed the old plywood plant.

The Environmental Protection Agency said that the former Stimson Lumber Co., plant did not contain vermiculite or Libby amphibole. Meanwhile, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality was awaiting an evaluation from the Kootenai River Development Council with details on the level of chrysotile asbestos that could have been present in the building’s roofing materials.

“The information we have is that the amount of asbestos in the roofing was small in comparison to the size of the site,” said John Podolinksy of Montana DEQ’s Asbestos Control Program. “Since abatement had been done for many, many years, at least we’re hoping that it’s not an issue.”

Chrysotile asbestos is the most common type found across America. Out of the 3,000 different types of asbestos materials produced, about 95 percent are of the chrysotile variety.

J.T. Welding and Construction was in the process of demolishing the building when the fire occurred. However, the contractor was doing the work in a fashion that did not fall under Montana DEQ regulation.

When asked if Libby residents should be cleaning up the debris, Podolinksy said that people should probably wait on any activity until more details are known.

“If people could refrain from handling the material until it’s assessed, that would probably be the most prudent direction,” Podolinksy said. “These are the kinds of situations that not a lot of folks are prepared for.”

If chrysotile asbestos was found to be present, it could become “friable” – something pointed out in the letter by Podolinsky. Friable means that the asbestos fibers could become airborne.

Paul Rumelhart, KRDC executive director, received a letter only a matter of hours after the fire from Podolinsky with a request for information and details on how to proceed.

Rumelhart was in the process of bringing in a Montana DEQ-certified inspector to look at the site. From there, a cleanup plan would be created.

“That’s going to take some time,” Rumelhart said.

Meanwhile, Libby Team Leader Victor Ketellapper of the EPA confirmed the absence of vermiculite in the 4.7-acre building.

“We don’t think there are any excessive exposures associated with Libby asbestos because of the fire,” Ketellapper said. “The building didn’t contain any vermiculite. The building was cleaned up by Stimson and primarily, it was the kiln that had some vermiculite insulation around it.”

Stimson Lumber Co., had a major asbestos abatement project at the plywood plant in November 1999. Following in December 2002, asbestos debris and pipe insulation was removed from the dry kiln tunnel. Other types of vermiculate removal occurred on Stimson property from 1999-2005.

“Stimson had its own contractor and had it removed,” said Mike Cirian, EPA field leader in Libby. “We looked at it a couple of times and there was no Libby amphibole that we could find. I can’t speak for any chrysotile.”

Ketellapper said that records show an investigation on the building was completed in 2008 and that they did not “find any detectable levels of vermiculite.”

The potential presence of chrysotile asbestos in local structures is not associated with the Libby Superfund Site.

The EPA Information Center in Libby has been fielding a lot of phone calls from concerned citizens since the fire occurred.

Erik Leigh, environmental technician with Lincoln County, initially said on Friday morning that the fire had not impacted particulate matter readings in the air – at least not through monitors located on the roof of the county annex building on Mineral Avenue.

But by Monday morning, Leigh announced “unhealthy” levels although an air advisory was not issued. The air quality was expected to improve as temperatures warmed up.

“I believe that most of this is from the mill fire which is still smoldering,” Leigh said Monday morning. “We will not try to regulate personal stove use during this event but in an effort to limit what we are adding to the mess, I would ask that we try to not burn if possible.”