Mold Forcing Dearborn Firefighters To Sleep In Trucks

DEARBORN, MI — A Dearborn fire station is battling a mold problem, according to a new report by WXYZ.

They reported that the firefighters in fire station five have been forced to sleep in their trucks due to health concerns inside the station, according to the Dearborn Firefighters Union.

This morning Dearborn firefighters are staged in their rigs outside the Melvindale Civic Arena. According to the union president, station five flooded two weeks ago. It was discover yesterday there is a mold problem, making the station uninhabitable. @wxyzdetroit @DbnFirefighters pic.twitter.com/Pf6bJI4y3L
— Ali Hoxie (@ali_hoxie) January 23, 2020

The City of Dearborn released the following statement:

"The City of Dearborn Fire Department and the City of Melvindale are expecting test results today to determine the nature of a patch of mold found in Fire Station No. 5, which is in Melvindale. It is expected that the appropriate remediation will take place immediately once the nature of the mold has been determined. In the meantime, in an abundance of caution, the five firefighters assigned to Fire Station Nov. 5 are not working inside the building."

City officials said the mold was discovered on Jan. 22 when a piece of dry wall was removed and revealed mold on a previously unexposed wall.

"The dry wall removal was part of final repairs undertaken by the City of Melvindale following a sewer backup at the station on Jan. 9," the city said. "Disinfection of the station had already taken place immediately following the Jan. 9 event."

City officials said they expect that the mold was most likely due to a previously unknown leak from the station’s laundry system and is unrelated to the sewage backup, as firefighters originally thought.

Dearborn Fire Chief Joseph Murray said that if testing determines that remediation is required and cannot be completed by late tonight, accommodations will be made for the firefighters assigned to Station No. 5 to sleep inside the nearby Melvindale Recreation Center,

The City of Melvindale owns Fire Station No. 5 and is responsible for its maintenance. It was built in the 1970s. Following a Consolidation Agreement in 2013, the firefighters assigned to Fire Station No. 5 are employees of the Dearborn Fire Department.