I heard this story in the news about mold found in a fire department and got me thinking about how different organizations react to mold and the reasons why they react the way they do.
A recent outbreak of mold has displaced 54 paid and 54 volunteer firefighters at the Fellowship Fire Station in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. “Toxic black mold” was discovered near the sleeping area in a second floor shower stall.
An inspection showed a leak hidden behind the shower wall that dripped into the electrical room where the highest levels of mold growth was. Here, the mold filled the HVAC system and spread airborne toxins throughout the three-story building. The firefighters have temporarily moved to a downtown station five miles away while the Fellowship Fire Station has been shut down until the mold can be removed.
So here’s what I’m wondering: Why is it that when mold is found in a school and children are getting sick, school board officials are hesitant to even admit there is a problem, but when it is found in a fire department, big, tough firemen are sent running for their lives?
I don’t mean to imply the firefighters of Mount Laurel are overreacting. Toxic black mold is very dangerous, and should be treated seriously. But I am implying that schools appear to be under reacting.
“We just thought, let’s shut down and let’s get this corrected instead of keeping our people in some type of risk,” Chief Robert Gallas said. These are words I have never heard spoken by a school administration facing mold problems.
Rather than “better safe than sorry,” schools will ignore a mold problem until a crystal clear link can be determined between the mold and all the sick and hospitalized children. This clear cut link is usually never found when it comes to human health.
Apparently, it’s okay to put children at risk – even though they have weaker immune systems and are more susceptible to health risks of toxic mold – but not firefighters.
54 paid firefighters operate out of the Fellowship Fire Station. But schools can have hundreds or thousands of students, teachers, and faculty that spend half their lives in a mold-infested building.
Maybe, unlike most schools, the Fellowship Fire Station has money to burn? Not according to Gallas. “This couldn’t have come at a worse time for the department. With the economic times out there and with state putting a 4-percent cap on our fire district budgets,” Chief Gallas said. The volunteer firefighters may have to dip into overtime, equipment, and maintenance money to pay for mold remediation.
I could also bring up the recent relocation of 28 to 50 inmates of a Pahrump prison due to mold. So wait, now even the health of prisoners is more important than the health of children?
Prisons, fire departments, and schools are all government facilities paid for by taxpayer dollars. Why do schools get shortchanged?
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