The fire took four ladder companies, six (fire) engine companies, and five hours to knock back. Until the flames were extinguished, black, oily smoke clouded the sky – the result of machines used to manufacture ammunition which, during their lifetime, coated the floorboards of the three buildings with oil.
Beginning life as the Union Metallic Cartridge Company, the building – which went up in 1867, and was added to many times after – likely contains a number of toxic ingredients besides asbestos, but the asbestos is the most disconcerting to the firemen who fought the fire and the Bridgeport residents who breathed the smoky air on Saturday, August 28.
Asbestos was a very common ingredient in any number of building products during most of the last century, up to about the mid-1970s. Contained in drywall, drywall patching compound, wall insulation, pipe insulation, sheet and tile flooring and flooring glues, the product was valued for both its insulative qualities and its resistance to chemical degradation.
That value fell, however, when health officials, manufacturers and government officials all began to observe a trend of asbestos-related diseases emerging in the public sector, most notably mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma, a cancer of the mesothelial tissues that surround and protect the lungs, heart and abdominal organs, occurs most often as pleural mesothelioma (in the lungs). After a long period of dormancy, which can extend to as much as half a century, mesothelial cancer becomes highly aggressive, forcing doctors to deliver prognoses that offer patients little more than a year to live.
There is no cure, and palliative, mainstream treatments like surgery, radiation and chemotherapy – used separately or in combination to reduce pain and improve breathing – do not extend lifetimes by more than a few months. In fact, many mesothelioma sufferers are so debilitated, by the time they are diagnosed, that many doctors fear using any mainstream treatment, and patients will often opt for peripheral therapies like aromatherapy, acupuncture and massage.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the Remington Arms fire, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have been to the site conducting air quality tests to determine if asbestos has been released, and how much.
The cause of last week’s fire, like others in the past, is suspected as arson, since the buildings in question have been vacant for quite a long time. The three buildings now being demolished as a result are only part of a larger complex.
The city estimates the cost of cleanup at about $11 million, though no one has specified whether this includes asbestos remediation. The buildings’ former owner, according to city officials, currently owes millions of dollars in unpaid taxes.
According to Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, who described the buildings as a public health hazard, his administration has been “aggressively pursuing” the buildings’ owner to pay taxes and fund building demolition.
Remington, a private company, is the oldest company in the U.S., and has headquarters in Madison, North Carolina. In 2009, Remington became a subsidiary of Freedom Group, which was taken public by investment firm Cerberus Capital Management.
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