Testing finds no asbestos in mill fire ash

Lincoln County commissioners gave the Environmental Health Department the go-ahead Wednesday afternoon to set up a hotline for residents to request their yards be cleaned of debris from the mill fire.

“They need to understand what’s going to be cleaned,” Commissioner John Konzen said. “We’re not coming in to vacuum their lawns – we’re coming in to pick up the big pieces.”

Preliminary test results appear to reveal that asbestos is present in some mill fire debris that was spewed into neighboring areas, but that ash from the fire contains no asbestos.

Mike Cirian, Environmental Protection Agency field leader in Libby, said that the microscopic asbestos fibers were probably widely dispersed in the fire, explaining why it wasn’t present in the ash samples.

“Asbestos fibers tend to fall out fairly quickly in fires like that,” he said. “That’s what we’ve seen in some of our testing, as well.”

Some of the debris still has the presence of asbestos, he said, because it didn’t burn enough to break into smaller pieces. 

Additional testing continues to be conducted to determine the potential health risk to the community and whether Lincoln County will be obligated to perform a more in-depth cleanup.

The county contracted Environmental Restoration to pick up debris from the fire in public, high-use areas last week. The two days of work cost the county about $25,000, said Bill Bischoff, the commissioners’ executive assistant.

The majority of asbestos came from the mill’s roofing material, according to preliminary testing, though one sample of pipe wrap contained less than 1 percent of chrysotile asbestos. 

Paul Rumelhart, executive director of the Kootenai River Development Council, which manages the industrial site, reported to commissioners that he had hired a contractor to draft a cleanup plan for the mill site.

The contractor met with the state Department of Environmental Quality on Wednesday and hopes to soon put the project out to bid. The cleanup itself should take about four weeks, Rumelhart said.

For residents who want to request the removal of mill fire debris from their yards, call the Lincoln County Environmental Health Department’s hotline at 293-7781, ext. 228.