COWETA, OKla. — Coweta firefighters are forced to move out of their fire station for good after extensive tests for mold came back positive and showed to be hazardous to human health.
The mold found at the fire station was not appealing or healthy for humans to be around. 2 News first told you about the problem earlier this month.
Miranda Lee of Coweta Nutrition was appalled.
“I was pretty shocked, to say the least," Lee said. "I didn’t know there was that much mold in the building.”
But it’s what was in the Coweta fire station on N. Broadway, and now they have to get out.
They already did - kind of - when interim fire chief Brian Woodward says some firefighters started having allergy symptoms. They started doing evenings and overnights at the Best Western Hotel off OK- 51. Now it’s considered their main corridors until the city purchases a mobile home to be their temporary fire station. It’s where they’ll spend the next 18 to 24 months.
“We have selected three designs that would be appropriate for what we are currently in," Woodward said Thursday.
Firefighters are counting the days until a public safety complex is built, also off OK-51 on the north side of the city. It’ll be their permanent fire station, thanks to a one-cent sales tax passed last year until another fire station is built close to downtown.
Based on extensive testing by ServPro, crews found heavy levels of aspergillus/penicillum. According to the CDC, it's a common mold that can cause allergies, lung and organ infections. They also found moderate levels of Cladosporium. It's a common mold that can cause allergies, asthma, and infections.
Coweta's city council will schedule an emergency meeting next week to discuss purchasing a mobile home.
If all goes as planned at the Coweta City Council meeting, Coweta city officials say that firefighters should be out of their hotel in about 7-10 days before they move into the temporary fire station.
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