Site Location
The 9.6 acre Brunswick Mill Site (Site), located at 57-59 Brunswick Avenue in a residential area of the town of Plainfield, Windham County, Connecticut, is bordered to the north by the Moosup River and North Main Street (Route 14); to the east by the Moosup River; to the south by Brunswick Ave., a private residence, and a Town sewer pump station; and to the west by private residences. The site includes an abandoned two-story office building, a demolished three-story mill building, and a garage. The abandoned mill building had been destroyed by a fire in 2000, but the northern and eastern portions of the mill remain largely intact. The majority of the mill building is in a state of disrepair with portions having collapsed onto themselves or into the Moosup River, a Class A river under the Connecticut State Water Classification Program. The river is used for fishing and various other recreational activities. Approximately 57 homes are located within a quarter mile. An elementary school is located approximately half a mile away.
Description of threat
The Site was owned and operated by a defunct business, Brunswick Worsted Mills, Inc. (Brunswick) and is located adjacent to another mill operated by a related company, Carvill Combing Company (Carvill). Industrial operations took place at both facilities from the 1890s until the 1970s.
On October 21, 2000, a fire broke out and destroyed the abandoned mill building. After the fire, the three story structure began to collapse. On October 23, 2000, the town of Plainfield hired a construction company to stabilize the building. In the course of performing this work, the construction company discovered abandoned transformers and exposed asbestos, and immediately ceased operations. The fire had also caused asbestos from the building to be released into the environment. Subsequently, CT DEP and the Town referred the Site to EPA’s Removal Program.
Recent Completed Actions
Site mobilized on February 9, 2004 and demolition/asbestos removal began on February 16, 2004. Shaw E&I (EPA ERRS Prime Contractor) subcontracted the effort to Dec-Tam and Dec-Tam. The work is completed and the details follow below.
Activities since the last POLREP:
Week of 15 March 2004
Costello loaded one truck with the remaining scrap metal and one roll-off container with debris, after which the road plates, excavator, and crew were demobilized.
DecTam cleared debris; transferred uncontaminated rubble; loaded the remaining contaminated debris into a roll-off container; and raked the ground surface around the building footprint.
START continued particulate monitoring upwind and downwind of the site; and collected composite surface soil samples and grab surface soil samples and delivered them to the EPA NERL mobile laboratory for lead analysis. The samples results were negative.
Week of 22 March 2004
DecTam finished cleaning debris from around the site and along the access road. The DecTam crew dismantled the decontamination pad; removed the hay bale/silt fence erosion control barriers; and began mortaring cinder blocks into the void spaces of the H Wall.
NEDT mobilized heavy equipment and a crew to site to begin work on the fire pond. The crew constructed a road to the pond; pumped the pond water into the fractioning tanks; solidified the pond sediment/bottom material; transferred the solidified material to the roll-off containers; and pressure washed the pond’s concrete bottom and brick side walls.
START mobilized a four person crew to site to collect soil cores using a Geoprobe® soil probing machine, and analyze samples collected from the cores for PAHs using immuno assay kits. NERL analyst mobilized to the site with the EPA mobile laboratory to analyze the samples for VOCs and lead. The results had very low, barely detectable, readings and well within safety levels.
Two propane cylinders were transported off site at no cost to EPA.
Week of 29 March 2004
NEDT filled the fire pond to original grade in lifts with clean fill, graded a layer of top soil into place, spread grass seed and mulch, and replaced the chain-link fence around the perimeter of the pond.
DecTam sealed the remaining H Wall voids with cinder blocks, and restored the sedimentation basins to original grade.
ERRS T&D Coordinator mobilized to the site and inventoried the drums that had been removed from the mill building and the surrounding area.
START collected five-point composite subsurface soil samples where previous surface soil sampling had indicated the presence of elevated lead concentrations. The results showed the lead levels were extremely low and well within safety levels.
Costello demobilized the grapple from site.
Week of 5 April 2004
NEDT graded loam into place along the access road to the fire suppression pond; installed water bars to divert storm water runoff; seeded and fertilized the area; installed erosion control matting; and demobilized equipment and personnel.
DecTam repaired areas of damaged pavement along the access road to Route 14, and conducted a bid walk with local paving contractors for repairing the pavement along a section of the Brunswick Avenue right-of-way adjacent to the building footprint.
OSC Tsang conducted a post-removal meeting and site walk with representatives of CT DEP, CT DPH, EPA, WESTON, START, and the Town of Plainfield. START continued particulate monitoring using upwind and downwind air monitors.
Week of 12 April 2004
DecTam began demob from site. DecTam subcontractor paved a section of Brunswick Aveneue. DecTam conducted bid-walk with local fencing contractors to install additional security fencing around immediate site.
Week of 19 April 2004
ERRS T&D Coordinator met with project officer from Global Environmental. Global Environmental removed transformers that were taken from the mill building .
Week of 26 April 2004
DecTam Subcontractor began installation of additional security fencing around the immediate site.
Week of 3 May 2004
ERRS T&D Coordinator met with subcontractor to manage the removal of inventoried drums that had been removed from the mill building and the surrounding area. DecTam Subcontractor continued installation of additional security fencing.
Week of 17 May 2004
Security fencing finally completed. No trespassing signs posted on the fencing. Removal action completed and site secured.
• OSC Jarrell will coordinate with CT DEP the DEP-lead removal of underground oil tanks.
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