While the city works to reopen a fire station that has been closed for almost two weeks due to mold, some firefighters are concerned their working environment still isn’t safe and their labor is being exploited.
The issue even caused a captain with seven years of experience with Columbus Fire and Rescue to resign Thursday afternoon.
Firefighters discovered mold on an engine bay wall June 30 at Fire Station 5 on North Lehmberg Road, CFR Chief Duane Hughes said. That prompted Hughes and other department members to inspect the rest of the building. As they began pulling back sheetrock in the living area, kitchen and sleeping quarters, he said they discovered mold on each side of the wall with insulation saturated with water between.
Hughes said he closed the station for “firefighter health” and relocated its firefighters to Station 4 on Airline Road until the problem could be fixed.
“I know the nature of the crew, and I knew it would be a potential problem if it wasn’t handled correctly,” Hughes said.
But having the station’s crews responding from farther away has its drawbacks.
“You’re putting anywhere from 30 additional seconds to a minute onto the response time, which is a concern,” Hughes said.
Meanwhile Hughes and other firefighters continued tearing out wet sheetrock and insulation, while roofers, a plumber and even the city’s building inspector tried to find the cause for the moisture to no avail, Hughes said. The building remained dry through rainfall and even after firefighters poured 400 gallons of water on the roof to test it for leaks.
As the station remained closed, Hughes said concerned citizens started calling city officials.
“We have several citizens that live there by the station that depend on the firefighters to get their garbage to the curb,” Hughes said. “They feel more secure when they see the firefighters there.”
By Thursday, Hughes was prepared to reopen the station, and that’s when issues with some of his firefighters came to a head.
Captain resigns
Hughes told The Dispatch on Friday morning he asked Servpro, a cleanup and restoration service, on Thursday to check Station 5 for any remaining mold in the walls or vents.
If Servpro gave the all-clear, he said he planned to reopen the station as soon as that night.
But some firefighters question whether he called Servpro before a meeting with Station 5’s night crew Thursday afternoon.
In that meeting Hughes said all three firefighters expressed safety concerns with returning to the station. Nine firefighters work out of that station in crews of three.
“They were concerned … about the possibility of it being black mold,” he said, referring to a specific strain of mold that is toxic. “They were concerned about cross contamination, being in the station then going on medical calls. Then there was concern about possibly taking the mold contamination back to their home.”
Hughes noted their concerns were valid, but told them he intended to open it that night.
“That’s as far as I got,” he said.
The captain on the crew submitted his resignation letter on the spot. Hughes admitted the meeting ended without him mentioning Servpro. Another crew member called in sick that evening and didn’t come to work.
“They were loaded for bear when they came into that meeting,” Hughes said. “At that point, there was nothing I was going to say that was going to give them any feeling (or relief) other than to say I wasn’t going to reopen the station. That was the only thing they wanted to hear.”
Servpro didn’t show Thursday, Hughes said, and the station did not reopen. Company personnel did arrive Friday and found no mold in the building, he said. But out of “an abundance of caution,” the HVAC system will be professionally cleaned next week, and the station will remain closed until then.
Hughes said sheetrock on the sleeping quarter side will be replaced, while the other side of the wall will remain exposed for a while longer to see if the moisture returns.
Exploitation?
Three firefighters with direct knowledge of the situation at Fire Station 5 contacted The Dispatch on Thursday and spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation at work.
All of them confirmed the captain’s resignation, and they all felt like firefighters were being forced to return to work in a station that may not be safe.
“The chief said he weighed the comfort of the firefighter versus the want of the public for that station to be open,” one firefighter said.
All three said several firefighters had requested CFR test the mold to see if it’s a toxic strain. So far, they said, that request has fallen on deaf ears.
“It was growing outside the walls in the living quarters; the bedrooms, up against the headboards of people’s beds,” another firefighter said. “It was also in the kitchen, growing on the back of the refrigerator. It was on the back of the kitchen cabinet that houses all our food. … You’re inside that atmosphere 24/7 unless you go out for training (or a call). That is our workplace, our kitchen, our dining room. That’s where we eat, sleep, use the bathroom, take showers.”
One firefighter said he believes Hughes did not call Servpro until after his ill-fated meeting with the firefighter crew. If he had mentioned Servpro then as part of the plan, the captain may not have resigned, the firefighter told The Dispatch.
Firefighters also took issue with being sent to help with wall demolition at the station, instead of the city calling in professionals for the job.
“We’re on the clock to save lives,” a firefighter said. “… In the meantime, you want us to rip out and do construction work for $15 an hour. General contractor work. … You let this outbreak happen at City Hall, (Human Resources Director) Pat Mitchell’s not going to go up there and start ripping walls out with black mold on it. You’re not going to have (Mayor Stephen) Jones up there with gloves on and a mask ripping out walls at City Hall. None of the council members are going to do it. So why does the fire department have to do general contractor work for a third of what a general contractor is going to make? That’s the pure definition of exploitation.”
Hughes said he is disappointed some of his firefighters took their concerns to the media before getting the complete story from him. But he assured The Dispatch he would not retaliate against those employees.
“At no point in my career have I ever knowingly participated in, accepted or condoned retaliation for any firefighter who voices an opinion,” he said. “There are consequences for actions, but for you stating your mind? No.”
Jones, speaking with The Dispatch on Friday, said the firefighters need not worry about being sent back to that station prematurely.
“We’re doing everything we can as a city to make sure there’s no mold left in there,” the mayor said. “Nobody is making them go back in until everything is done that needs to be done, so I don’t know where that’s coming from.”
‘Root cause’
Hughes plans to issue a written narrative to all his employees on what happened and how it was handled. Then he plans to meet with all the firefighters for a question-and-answer session to “clear the air.”
The “root cause” for this issue becoming so caustic, Hughes said, is general “job dissatisfaction” among Station 5 firefighters.
A leak last year at Station 4 was much worse, Hughes said, but firefighters brought in dehumidifiers, tore out sheetrock and found the source of the leak. During that ordeal, the station never closed.
But firefighters across the department, especially those at Station 5, are increasingly upset with “city government” about issues like firefighter pay, which lags behind their first-responder counterparts at the police department.
“I’ve told the mayor and council this has to be addressed,” Hughes said. “Because we have an aluminum mill that is opening soon that’s paying almost three times the salary. And they are looking for the skills these firefighters possess. If we don’t do something to address it, when they open, I know immediately we’ll lose about 10 firefighters.”
Jones said the city can’t compete with the $90,000 salaries at Aluminum Dynamics, which is set to open this year in Lowndes County. He said the city has approved several rounds of employee raises in recent years and will continue to look at that possibility each budget cycle.
“We’re always looking at it … for every employee, not just them,” he said. “We want to make sure every employee is paid fairly for their work.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
