It was Monday night when Independence Township Fire Department received a call that there was a pint of mercury spilled at a home in the 6100 block off Clarkston Road.
The mercury, which had been stored in a pole barn, was spilled during a court ordered eviction.
‘They (the workers) unknowingly broke a vile of mercury and became contaminated,? said Gary Sharp, with Independence Township Fire. ‘Subsequently that contamination was transferred from their boots to their vehicles and some of the belongings in their vehicles, so we had them all return and with the assistance of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) monitored all their shoes, their vehicles, and EPA has temporary taken possession of the stuff that’s contaminated.?
James Justice, on-scene coordinator with the EPA said they were screening the 12 other homes of the workers who became contaminated after the spill.
‘There are only three homeowners we could not get a hold of yet,? he said on Tuesday. ‘My understanding is the rest of the houses came back clean.?
Curt Thompson, team leader with the Oakland County Hazmat said they do a lot of mercury responses.
‘Short contact or casual exposure is not harmful, there’s no acute sudden effect that you experience, said Sharpe. ‘However, the liquid mercury that you see is actually releasing invisible vapors and if you breathe those in for long periods of time it will cause some neurological impairment.?
Justice said how they screen for contamination is by wrapping furniture with plastic or in the case of shoes and clothing putting them in plastic garbage bags and letting them sit outside in the sun or near a heater until the items are heated up 70 degrees or above for 15 minutes.
‘If there are vapors on the clothes, the vapors will collect in the headspace of the bag and we’ll know right away with the Lumex mercury meter whether it’s contaminated,? he said. ‘And whether or not we can give it back to them or throw it out and dispose of it.?
Justice said a contractor from Detroit was coming to help clean up and screen the area for contamination. He said they will start outside first and eventually work their way inside the house and the barn.
‘Not knowing where the contamination spread outside, what we’re going to do is take polly sheeting plastic, lay it over the grass, which will cause a mini-green house effect,? Justice said. ‘It will heat up and any mercury that may be in the grass will vaporize and collect underneath the plastic. Then we’ll polk the Lumex underneath the plastic and anywhere were it shows high levels of contamination we’ll mark with paint and those areas will be scraped with a Bob Cat and those areas will be disposed of.?
Federal limits of exposure are set at around 1,000 nanograms. In the pole barn was detection of 80,000 nanograms.
‘One of the things that the people of this community should be proud of is the Hazmat,? said Supervisor Dave Wagner who was on site on Tuesday. ‘It’s a team of many jurisdictions that’s involved in this and last night when they were called out and responded it was identified immediately and prevented any injuries.?
Sharpe said they are encouraging people to exchange in old thermometers with mercury in them for new ones.
For more information on non hazardous ways to dispose of mercury, visit www.michigan.gov/mercury.