At approximately 2:30 am on Friday, February 13, 2009, the Emergency Response Section received a report of a mercury spill at the Agua Fria High School located at 530 East Riley Drive in Avondale, Arizona. It is believed that the release had occurred around noon on Thursday, February 12, 2009 at Agua Fria High School. The incident was discovered by the fire departments (of Avondale and Goodyear) who initially responded to an incident on Hill Drive, in Avondale, Arizona, where two students were found playing with mercury in the yard of family member's house. The fire departments responded on the evening of February 12, 2009, and hired a cleanup contractor Kary Environmental Services (KES) to address mercury in public areas of the street and sidewalk. The Hill Drive family was decontaminated in the yard, and their clothes and contents were bagged by responders. The property was not entered to screen for mercury, possibly because the property owner was told she would have to pay for it. The fire department recommended that the home not be re-entered until an assessment was conducted and recommended that the family be taken for medical screening.
One of the students claimed that he had the mercury at school and the fire department notified Agua Fria Unified School District (AFUSD) of the situation. At the request of AFUSD, the cleanup contractor arrived at the school late Thursday night and began assessing the situation. The school administration made a decision to close the school until a proper assessment and cleanup could be conducted and parents were notified that school would be closed on Friday.
Over the course of the following days, it was determined that various areas of the high school school buses, residential properties and students belongings were contaminated with elemental mercury.
Friday 2/13/09
EPA:1, START:1
On Friday morning, EPA OSC Powell and AZDEQ SOSC Malone arrived on site and met with the School District, Fire Department and cleanup contractors. The cleanup contractor was conducting an assessment of the school classrooms and buses to determine if they had been impacted. After the briefing, OSC Powell requested that the START contractor and Response Duty OSC be dispatched to provide assistance. OSC Powell and AZDEQ Malone visited the Avalon residence, where the fire departments were conducting an assessment. Mercury was found in the residence, spilled in multiple rooms and a container of mercury was recovered. The fire department decontaminated the family and recommended no occupancy of the home until the contamination could be addressed. There was a 6 year old living in the residence, along with the Agua Fria student and the parents. The house was secured by the fire department and mercury and mercury contaminated materials were overpacked and staged in the garage.
START arrived in the afternoon and met with OSC Powell, AZDEQ Malone and attended a meeting with Agua Fria Unified School District and their contractors, Clark Seif Clark (CSC) and Kary Environmental Services (KES). The contractors informed EPA that they had identified 2 buses and 5 classrooms with mercury contamination at the school. After the meeting, OSC Powell, AZDEQ Malone and START visited the Hill Drive residence and the Fire Department Station #171. An access agreement was dropped off with the owner of the Hill residence and the home was scheduled for assessment the following day. At the FD station, the engine and turnout gear of responders was assessed.
Saturday, 2/14/09
EPA:2, START: 2
OSC Rogow arrived on site and met with OSC Powell and START contractors. EPA attended the morning and evening incident command meetings. EPA expressed concern about the scope of the incident and whether all students involved or potentially contaminated has been assessed for mercury contamination.
OSC’s Powell and Rogow and START traveled to the Avalon residence where they met with the property owner, who signed an access agreement and discussed the situation further. START conducted an assessment of the Avalon residence and found mercury beads in 2 of the rooms and concentrations up to 40,000 ng/m3. OSC Powell transitioned with OSC Rogow. With approval from the homeowner, the Avalon residence was vented and heated.
Due to concerns with the instrumentation and the capabilities of the contractors on site, START shadowed the District’s contractor on assessments of classroom E2, the Bus Depot and a few buses. START utilized a Lumex 915+ mercury vapor analyzer while the District’s contractor utilized a Jerome 405. START identified mercury in a bus which had been screened by the contractor and found to have no contamination, using the Jerome 405. START also found no mercury contamination of concern in a bus which the contractor had identified as containing mercury. As a result of this assessment, EPA recommended that all areas previously screened using the Jerome 405 be re-assessed using the Lumex mercury vapor analyzer. CSC worked to obtain Lumex instruments for operation.
In the afternoon, EPA and START went to the Hill Drive residence and found it to be re-occupied. The home owner told OSC Rogow that they moved back in on their own and did not consider the contamination to be a threat to them, since the hospital that they were sent to on Thursday evening did not take blood or urine samples. START conducted an assessment of the home and found mercury concentrations to be approximately 2,000 ng/m3 throughout the home. Each of the residents was personally screened as well. Some of the shoes showed contamination in excess of 3,000 ng/m3. EPA recommended that the shoes be allowed to off-gas outside of the house. In addition, the OSC recommended heating and venting of the house to address mercury concentrations. There was also a pregnant woman who had been staying at the house, and the OSC recommended that she stay somewhere else until the mercury concentrations in the house were lower. Outside of the house in the front and side yards, START identified mercury concentrations in excess of 20,000 ng/m3 in a number of locations. Monitoring was also conducted of clothing and shoes which were bagged by the fire department on February 12, 2009. All but one of these bags was found to be greater than 50,000 ng/m3.
A re-screen of the Avalon residence was conducted, after heating and venting. The student’s room and computer room were identified as being the primary sources of mercury off-gassing. The vacuum, bath mats and computer room chair were also found to be highly contaminated and they were bagged and set in the garage.
Additional resources were requested by the OSC from START and ERT/REAC, to support the incident. EPA OSC Rogow provided verbal notice to the Agua Fria Unified School District (AFUSD) and the Counsel for the Arizona School Retention Trust, the School’s insurance company. The District agreed to take responsibility for the cleanup of the School. After discussion with OSC Rogow and consultation between EPA Counsel and Counsel for the Trust, the School District also agreed to undertake cleanup operations at affected homes in the community, beginning with the Hill residence. Cleanup operations in the yard began that evening.
In response to concerns about the potential contamination of other students and their residences, AFUSD and EPA crafted a strategy to conduct mercury screening for potentially affected students. CSC refused to provide support for assessment of student belongings and residences. The District requested assistance from EPA with these tasks. EPA, in consultation with AZDEQ agreed to perform technical assistance for the screening of potentially effected belongings and residences.
After consultation with EPA and development of a script, the School compiled a list of students and staff who had been identified as having been in a classroom, locker room or bus where mercury was known to be spilled. Students included Verrado and Desert Edge High Schools, who utilized the buses after Agua Fria students were dropped off. The students were requested to bring in their belongings (clothes, shoes, bags or other items) that they had with them or were wearing on Thursday February 12, 2009, to the school for assessment.
Throughout the day, AFUSD contractors continued to assess the school buildings for mercury contamination.
Sunday, 2/15/09
EPA:2, START:4, REAC:3
One ERT, 3 REAC and 2 additional START personnel arrive on site. EPA agreed to conduct Lumex training for the School District’s contractors. At the request of AFUSD, EPA began conducting mercury screening in the school buses. The buses were a priority for the District, since they are used to transport students from all of the schools. By the end of the day, all of the buses were assessed. 50 were determined not to be of issue and three were identified as having mercury contamination.
During the morning briefing, cleanup priorities were established by the AFUSD: buses 72 and 961, Building E and surrounding area and Building B. Continued screening of the school to determine contaminated areas also continued to be a priority. EPA was requested to assist with the assessment and conducted assessments of the Bus Barn, surrounding buildings and classroom B9.
EPA conducted a re-screen of the Avalon house. Based on the assessment, EPA recommended that additional measures be taken to remediate the residence. AFUSD contacted the owner and requested that they come to a school for a meeting regarding next steps.
EPA also returned for an assessment of the interior of the Hill Drive residence and the outdoor areas where mercury was released. When they arrived, the pregnant woman was in the house. The family said that they had vented the home and concentrations were lower than the previous day. Re-screen of the area outside the Hill Drive residence was also conducted. Mercury vacuuming and some excavation had been conducted the previous evening by response contractors, but mercury concentrations were still found in excess of 3,000 ng/m3 and EPA recommended that additional cleanup work be performed.
Through out the day, AFUSD continued calling potentially effected students and also began collection of articles (clothing, shoes, bags and books) brought in by students in identified classes. EPA coordinated with the School on procedures for drop-off, screening and EPA began screening of articles provided by students who had been identified by AFUSD. Screening was conducted outside, as well as in the “Black Box,” a theatre room which was lined with visqueen to protect it during operations. As a result of the first day assessing student’s articles, 4 homes of students were screened for mercury contamination. At each home, an access agreement was signed by the resident, either the owner, renter or both. EPA representatives explained the screening process and the results of the screening to the parents at each home visited. At one of the houses, levels of mercury were found to be over action levels and the OSC recommended that measures be taken to reduce contamination in the home. A source was not identified, but the student living in the house did have a container which formerly held mercury and had thrown it in the trash. The house was scheduled for re-assessment.
In the afternoon, a meeting with state and federal agencies was held, to discuss the growing magnitude of the response operations and the movement of the assessment and cleanup operations into the Avondale community. The Avondale Fire Department agreed to assist with ICS to provide a framework for the management of the response operations.
AFUSD contractors worked on cleanup of classroom E2 through out the day. Cleanup operations were conducted in classroom B9 and locker room worked during the night.
Monday, 2/16/09
EPA:2, START:4, REAC:3
At the request of AFUSD, EPA conducted an assessment of Building B and the Building B Guidance Office. EPA conducted re-screening of contaminated buses which had been addressed by the cleanup contractor. Buses 90 and 961 were clearance monitored and found to be less than 1,000 ng/m3. EPA recommended that these buses continue to be aired out, but that they could be returned to service. Bus 72 was found to be over 3,000 ng/m3 and additional remediation was recommended to be conducted.
AFUSD contractors worked on cleanup of classroom E2 during the day and the weight room at night.
EPA conducted screening of clothing at the Avalon house in order to release some of the clothing to the displaced family. EPA, the School District, KES and their subcontractor, who was brought in to write a work plan, met to discuss the plan for remediation activities in residences. The subcontractor expressed his concern with any effected articles returned to the residences that may be over 1,000 ng/m3. While EPA understood his concerns, the OSC expressed that the return of articles would probably need to be handled on a case by case basis. A draft work plan was provided to EPA for review and comment. The work plan was revised based on the meeting and remediation activities at the Avalon residence were scheduled to start the following day.
A re-assessment was conducted at the Hill Drive residence. Soil areas were still between 4,000 – 50,000 ng/m3. Additionally, the resident requested checking of one of her son’s shoes and they were found to be over 50,000 ng/m3. EPA recommended additional cleanup of outdoor areas and disposal of the contaminated shoes.
In the evening operations briefing, the School District re-iterated that school needed to be opened immediately, and no later than Thursday February 19, 2009. CSC replied that they did not think that the school could be opened by then; that they could not accomplished what needed to be done for the campus to open. AFUSD requested assistance from EPA to assess the campus grounds and OSC Rogow agreed to provide assistance to conduct this assessment.
EPA continued conducting screening of student and employee articles which were dropped off and checked in by AFUSD. Once items were screened, they were either set aside for return or vented to reduce mercury concentrations. In addition, 8 houses were screened as a result of mercury levels found in belongings. At one of the homes, a chair was found over the residential action level. EPA ERT recommended that the chair be put outside, so it was relocated to the garage so that it could air out. No other source was found and the home was scheduled for re-assessment.
Tuesday 2/17/09
EPA:2, START:5, REAC:3
At the request of the District, EPA conducted screening of the campus grounds, in high priority areas around affected classrooms and major pathways. One area of concern was found on the asphalt and another was identified from student information. This area was addressed by cleanup contractors, along with another area that was identified. Classroom E3 was screened and determined not to have mercury concentrations of concern.
AFUSD contractors conducted assessments of building A, central plant, building L, and the auxiliary gym. AFUSD contractors continued cleanup work in classrooms E2, E4 and B9 and the boy’s locker room. This work included epoxy of floors to prevent the mercury from volatilizing. Confirmation screening of room BD and the weightroom was performed, which revealed that those areas did not have mercury at levels that would be of concern.
The Avalon residence remediation began, with the carpets in 2 rooms being removed. EPA conducted a preliminary assessment of the Avalon house after remediation and heating and venting. Indications revealed that further cleanup would be necessary and EPA recommended additional work at the residence.
EPA continued screening student and employee articles. 7 residences were screened, and 2 homes were found to be contaminated with mercury above the residential action level. EPA representatives recommended engineering controls and measures be taken at each of the houses. At one of the homes, student’s rooms were found to be at levels of concern and those rooms were isolated and a recommendation was made to the parents to have the students sleep elsewhere until mercury levels came down. Both homes were scheduled for re-assessment.
Wednesday, 2/18/09
EPA:3, START:6, REAC:3
EPA completed assessment of the campus grounds, focusing on the athletic areas. All priority areas were assessed with no areas of concern identified. Confirmation screening was conducted of areas which were remediated the previous day. All outside areas were found to be under action levels.
EPA conducted a preliminary screening of classrooms E2, E4 and B9 and the boys locker room. Areas over 1,000 ng/m3 were found in E2 and E4 and additional cleanup was recommended. EPA went to conduct confirmation monitoring of locker room and B9 and found that blowers were still operating, as a result, confirmation screening could not be conducted. A meeting between EPA, AFUSD and their contractors was held to re-discuss procedures for confirmation monitoring. The rooms were then sealed off and heated and a plan was devised to monitor the rooms once proper temperatures and time were reached in the early morning before school started.
OSC conducted an assessment of classroom E4 with AFUSD and their contractors. Results indicated mercury at levels still of concern. The chemical storage appeared ancient and the lab was in need of better management. Contractors identified additional sources of mercury and AFUSD made a decision to lock out the room and address the cleanup over the weekend when there were no classes, so that school could resume operation.
EPA returned to the Avalon residence to conduct a screening. The assessment revealed mercury concentrations in girl’s room and master bed room over 1,000 ng/m3 and EPA recommended that additional work be performed to address contamination. Additional cleanup work was conducted by AFUSD contractor.
EPA conducted a reassessment of the outside areas of the Hill Drive residence and found that contamination still remained and recommended that additional work be conducted.
EPA continued screening student and employee articles, and re-screening of articles that had been airing out for the day and previous days. 6 additional residences were screened and of those, one of the homes had areas with mercury contamination over the action level. EPA recommended measures to be taken to reduce contamination and the house was scheduled for a re-assessment. 2 homes were re-assessed and of those, one had contamination levels reduced to below action levels, while the other had increasing levels of contamination identified. EPA took additional measures and discussed the situation further with AFUSD and the residents.
AFUSD presented a protocol for opening school the following day and screening of students who had not brought items in. This would be in an effort to prevent the school from being re-contaminated and to identify students that had not been assessed, to minimize additional potential exposure. The school would be locked up, teachers would have a roster at each gate and students would be allowed to go to class or sent to the Black Box for monitoring by EPA. Once students were screened and cleared, they would be stamped and allowed to go to class.
AZDEQ Malone was on site and members of the Arizona Health Department came on site to discuss status of operations. AZ Health Department requested to be provided with data on students with high concentrations of mercury in their belongings and whose homes were assessed. It was decided that AFUSD would provide information on the students and that EPA would provide the associated data.
Thursday 2/19/09
EPA:4, START:4, REAC:3
School resumes! Final confirmation screening of B9, E2 and the Boy’s Locker Room was conducted prior to school opening. All three of these rooms were found to be below action level of 1,000 ng/m3. EPA informed the School of the findings. EPA also conducted screening of J-10, J-11, cafeteria office manager room, rooms in the H building and the laundry room near the boy’s locker room. All of these rooms were found not to have mercury levels of concern. All of the rooms where remediation was conducted or still needed to be completed and the Black Box were locked out to student and staff access.
EPA continued screening student and employee articles. EPA also began screening of students who had not brought in their belongings from the day of the incident. The school routed all students who had not brought in their clothes to the black box and EPA conducted screening of the students and the belongings that they had with them. Approximately 95 students were screened that morning by EPA. As a result, contaminated items were removed from the students possession for treatment, re-screening and possible disposal. EPA continued to conduct assessment of homes, with 10 homes being assessed that day. Of those homes, at one EPA recommended measures to reduce mercury contamination levels and the house was scheduled for re-assessment. One re-assessment was conducted, which identified that mercury reduction measures were successful and no readings over the action level were identified.
EPA also began conducting inventory of belongings which had not been able to be reduced to mercury levels below 10,000 ng/m3 after many days of venting. These items were staged for disposal and an inventory of the items began, so that AFUSD could notify the parents of the items to be disposed.
The Avalon residence had been heated over night, vented in the morning and resealed up. Late morning, final confirmation monitoring was conducted. Results revealed that the bathroom still had mercury concentrations of concern and AFUSD contractors conducted additional work in the bathroom, including removal and replacement of the trap, etc.
A re-assessment of the 129th Drive residence was conducted, and the girls and boys rooms and washing machine were found to still be contaminated, with levels rising since initial actions were taken at the home. Due to this finding, EPA believed that mercury was present in the home and EPA recommended that additional remediation by the cleanup contractor, including removal of carpet in the boy’s bedroom, be conducted. AFUSD made contact with the home owner and they came in for a meeting to discuss the plan for remediation of their home.
Friday 2/20/09
EPA:3, START:3, REAC:2
After school, a walk through of the Building E chemical storage area and classroom E4 was conducted, as planning to begin cleanup and lab pack operations were planned for overnight. START conducted an assessment of the chemical storage closet. Lab packing and mercury cleanup operations in classroom E4 and the storage area were conducted over night. A few old radiation sources were identified. EPA was notified and recommended that a radiation survey be conducted, using proper equipment and that the radiation materials be properly isolated.
Student screening continued and belongings were assessed as they were brought in. As a result, 8 houses were assessed, with one of the houses being recommended for reduction measures and scheduled for reassessment. 3 re-assessments were conducted, which resulted in 2 of the homes being found mercury levels to be below action levels and the other still had mercury concentrations above the action level. At that home, the OSC spoke with the homeowner and found that the recommended measures were not fully carried out. The OSC addressed concerns of the homeowner and recommended modified measures which could be accomplished without pets escaping.
A re-screen of the Avalon residence was conducted, and personal effects rescreening was conducted to determine what could be returned to the residence. Additional work was conducted at the Hill Drive residence.
AFUSD contractors began cleanup of the 129th Drive residence, with removal of items and carpet from the home. The residents temporarily relocated to a hotel during until their house was addressed. EPA conducted an assessment at 129th Drive residence, at the request of the home owner, who was interested in getting some of the clothing from the house to wear while they were displaced.
Saturday 2/21/09
EPA:2, START:3, REAC:2
The OSC was contacted by AFUSD regarding the cleanup of science lab, which had been ongoing overnight. Some additional of concern materials, including some radioactive sources, were identified. The Incident Commander requested support from the Goodyear Fire Department HazMat and START was mobilized to provide technical assistance. An assessment was conducted, and the sources were adequately isolated until disposal arrangements could be implemented. Cleanup of the chemicals, classroom E4 and the chemical storage area continued through out the day. A contractor was identified to address transportation and disposal of radiation sources on Friday, February 27th.
AFUSD continued contacting parents, along with scheduling of homes for mercury screening. Initial screening of 5 homes happened through out the day, all found to be under the action level. 2 homes were re-screened, with one found to be under the action level for mercury and the other requiring additional measures to be taken. Sulfur was added to the washing machine and to the sink drain of one of the homes, in an attempt to amalgamate the mercury in those systems.
EPA conducted an assessment of 129th Drive residence, at the request of the home owner, who was interested in getting some of the clothing from the house to wear while they were displaced. Therefore, clothes and belongings screened. Some contents were found to be greater than 50,000ng/m3, but some of the clothes were able to be released to the family.
EPA began a data QA assessment to identify students who had not been screened or homes which needed to be screened but had not yet been scheduled. Information from the QA was provided to AFUSD, who contacted families that were identified by EPA.
Sunday 2/22/09
EPA:1, START:3
EPA assisted CSC in the assessment of the blocks of lockers that were pulled out of the Boy’s Locker Room. The lockers were wrapped into 60 blocks of lockers. Screening of 60 blocks of lockers was conducted and 16 of the locker blocks were found to be over 1,000 ng/m3. The lockers were left to air out and resealed the locker blocks for re-monitoring. 4 of the blocks of lockers were over 5,000 ng/m3. Contents in these locker blocks were removed and allowed to air out. 12 of the locker blocks were between 1,000 and 5,000 ng/m3 were vented, resealed and re-assessed. Locker blocks over 5,000 ng/m3 had lockers opened, contents bagged and re-screened. Those that were greater than 10,000 ng/m3 were separated by item, and allowed to heat up and rescreened. Bags that were less than 10,000 ng/m3 were set aside for venting, but put in return pile for eventual student collection.
Cleanup operations in classroom E4 were completed and EPA conducted an assessment of classroom E4, post cleanup and found readings over 1,000 ng/m3. Therefore EPA recommended additional cleanup and venting of room. AFUSD contractors epoxied the floor in classroom E4 and vented it to dry for the evening. Lab packing of old chemicals in the chemical storage room was conducted through out the day.
EPA continued data QA and more residences were identified. EPA screened belongings that were still being dropped off by students. EPA conducted assessments of 5 residences, which revealed that they were all under the action level for mercury. Also, one re-screening was conducted, which indicated that mitigation measures were effective at reducing mercury concentrations in the house to below action levels.
An assessment of 129th Drive residence was conducted, including a screening of personal items and the washer. Assessment revealed that concentrations were low enough to begin restoration of the residence.
At the Avalon residence, items placed back in house, and a reassessment was conducted, which revealed that the drains were off gassing mercury. EPA recommended additional measures to address the issue and measures were taken by AFUSD contractors.
At the Hill Drive residence, a reassessment of the front and side yards was conducted. Contamination was still present and another adjacent area was identified. EPA recommended additional work be conducted and AFUSD contractors conducted that work.
Monday 2/23/09
EPA:1, START:3
Classroom E4, which had been cleaned over the weekend was readied with temperatures set at 70 degrees for four hours. Confirmation monitoring the room was conducted and revealed that mercury was no longer present at levels of concern. A re-assessment of classroom E1 was conducted which indicted that the response operations in the adjacent rooms did not have an impact on the classroom. A ventilation system was installed in the chemical storage room overnight to evacuate any remaining volatile substances from the area. EPA also conducted a post removal screening of the entire B Building, due to the shared ventilation system and the use of the space by the YMCA.
Final confirmation screening of the Avalon residence was conducted and it was determined that mercury was no longer present at levels of concern. AFUSD was notified by EPA, and they in turn, notified the residents that their house could be re-occupied.
The Hill residence assessment revealed that some areas still had mercury concentrations up to 20,000 ng/m3, and EPA recommended additional work to be conducted. Restoration of the 129th Drive residence was conducted, including installation of carpeting and return of personal items in to the home. EPA conducted a final confirmation screening after the restoration and the return of personal items to the home. The screening revealed that the home had mercury concentrations below the action level. EPA notified AFUSD, who, in turn, notified the residents that they could return to their home.
Due to a refusal to bring in correct clothing or have their residence assessed, the OSC visited Earll Street residence, discussed situation with resident and provided a fact sheet about mercury health effects. After discussions with OSC Rogow, the resident signed access agreement and arranged for the team to return that evening for assessment.
START continued to screen bags of clothing that were brought in by students. AFUSD continued return of student’s belongings. EPA conducted assessments of 4 residences, with all results being below action levels for mercury.
Tuesday 2/24/09
EPA:1, START:3
Remediation of bus 72 resumed today, and layers of the bus flooring were taken apart. Monitoring of the bus indicated that mercury contamination was still present.
CSC informed EPA that 6 of the boys lockers were found with contents over 10,000 ng/m3 (and mostly upwards of 100,000 ng/m3). After discussion with the School District, they requested for EPA to assess the homes of those students, if they had not already been conducted. EPA requested for the School to provide the names of the students, but the School had no master locker list and the students appeared to rarely use their assigned lockers. AFUSD worked to try to identify the students.
Excavation of the yard at Hill Drive continued to be conducted. Another hot spot was identified and the AFUSD contractor was informed of where the area was so that it could be addressed.
The restoration at the 129th Drive residence was completed the previous. The home was then closed up and heated. In the afternoon, final confirmation monitoring was conducted and the house was found to be below the residential occupancy action level. EPA informed the School District of this information and they welcomed the owner back into their home.
START continued to screen bags of clothing that were brought in by students and employees on behalf of students from Desert Edge High School.
OSC conducted a review of the monitoring data and discussed findings regarding students who were in areas that had the most contamination to ensure that students or their belongings were sufficiently monitored.
Wednesday 2/25/09
EPA:1, START:1
START conducted an assessment of bus 72, which had been undergoing remediation efforts throughout the day and identified a hot spot where caulk was used. OSC Rogow recommended revisiting that area and after consultation with the School District, they brought in one of the bus maintenance personnel to devise a better solution. EPA also coordinated with AFUSD’s contractor regarding screening of items which had been removed from effected classroom. AFUSD’s contractor began screening and segregation of classroom items.
EPA screened plastic sheeting in the black box, determined it to be uncontaminated by operations and removed it so that the drama teacher could have her classroom back.
The school continued to try to identify owners of items in the boy’s locker room. Students from 4th period PE were asked their locker numbers, but out of the ones who remembered, only one student was identified as having contaminated clothing.
START continued to screen bags of clothing that were brought in by students and employees on behalf of students from Verrado High School. EPA conducted assessments at 4 residences, with results being below action levels for mercury.
START conducted a re-assessment of excavated areas at the Hill Drive residence and recorded the highest concentrations at 2,017 ng/m3. Based on these results, the OSC recommended that the Hill Drive excavations be backfilled.
Bags of mercury contaminated belongings from the students and employees were collected by the AFUSD contractor for disposal. These items were ones which EPA had attempted to remediate, with no success. An inventory of the contents by screening # was given to the AFUSD on 2/24/09 and they began contacting the parents to inform them of the situation.
Thursday 2/26/09
EPA:1, START:1
OSC Rogow received a call from the School’s Incident Commander, who requested for EPA to visit the 129th Drive residence. The resident had called about bags of clothes which were left in a pod outside by the response contractor. EPA and START went to the house, monitored the large bags of clothes and found ranging concentrations. The clothes were then laid out in the yard on visqueen and allowed to air out. Later in the day, START called the response contractor to re-bag items into small bags of a few items. After a few hours, EPA re-monitored bags and found that most of the items were under 200 ng/m3 of mercury. For the ones that weren’t, the OSC recommended additional airing out. No items of over 10,000 ng/m3 were found.
Remediation work on bus 72 was completed, by installation of metal sheeting in the hot spot and painting with heat resistant paint. Final confirmation monitoring of bus 72 was conducted and the bus, along with the hot spot was found to be under action levels.
EPA continued to work with AFUSD on the identification of students whose belongings were contaminated in the boy’s locker room. This task continued to be a challenge due to students using unassigned lockers and not knowing the locker numbers. START continued to screen bags of clothing that were brought in by students and employees on behalf of students from Verrado and Desert Edge High School. One item was found to be of concern and the OSC relayed that information to the School District who coordinated with the family for a home visit. 3 residences were assessed for mercury contamination, with no results over action level for mercury.
Backfilled excavations at Hill Drive were monitored and found to be below action levels. Work at that residence was considered complete and the AFUSD was notified, so that they could communicate with the residents..
Demobilization activities occurred. The OSC met with AFUSD regarding operations, next steps and status of student screenings and residential assessments. START worked to organize data for draft delivery to AFUSD and AZ Health Department. Equipment was packed up and loaded into START vehicle for transportation back to Long Beach where it would be maintained and shipped to its appropriate warehouse location.
Friday 2/27/09
EPA:1, START:1
EPA and START met about data and information gathered. START provided some technical assistance to AFUSD’s contractor regarding screening of items and Lumex troubleshooting. START and EPA demobilized from the site.
1. AFUSD contractor to continue assessment and clean up of classroom items.
2. Treatment of items with low levels of contamination, and return of those items to AFUSD.
3. Dispoal of mercury contaminated debris and elemental mercury which was removed during response efforts.
4. Proper packaging, transportation and disposal of radioactive material.
5. Further assessment and cleanup may be necessary during restoration of classrooms.
1. Continue and complete assessment and removal activities.
2. Continued coordination between AFUSD, EPA and other interested agencies
3. Restoration and return of classrooms to service.
Lack of communication upon discovery of the incident resulted in further spread of the mercury contamination. The delay in time between the incident occurence and the notification of responders cause further contamination and potential exposure and hampered response operations.
Failure to notify the NRC in a timely manner and with accurate information hampered EPA's response and ability to assist with the further minimization of the impacted areas.
AFUSD communication with the public and effected families was stifiled by counsel. This resulted in an occassionally hostile situation with parents and the media. This required EPA to take the lead on communication with the media and providing information to families.
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