Fire Station mold repairs could top $200K

By Ashley Gebb

agebb@chicoer.com @ashleygebb on Twitter

Fire Station 5 in northeast Chico was covered with sheet plastic in this picture from March. (Bill Husa Enterprise-Record)

Chico >> Fixing the mold and water intrusion problem at Fire Station 5 will likely cost the city about $120,000 to $200,000 more than initially approved, according to a report by Public Works Director Ruben Martinez.

Martinez emphasized Friday he was still reviewing calculations and not all the numbers are represented in his staff report for Tuesday's City Council meeting. He planned to study his options over the weekend to have more details for councilors Tuesday, and then present a final report at the May 20 meeting. "Will the number be in there somewhere? It's possible but it also could be higher than that," Martinez said.

The city has already expended slightly beyond the $25,000 councilors approved in November, and needs significantly more to complete the necessary repairs. Whatever the repairs are, they must ensure the envelope of the building is water-tight to prevent any kind of intrusion that would create the opportunity for mold and serve as a warranty for insurance purposes, Martinez said.

"We do the roof then water gets in elsewhere and we are going to be back in a few months with more mold," he said. "How far do I need to go to make sure that is not going to happen to us down the road?"

Mold remediation began on the station in December, when the City Council decided it could not know about the presence of mold and take no action, even though spore counts were higher outside the station than inside.

Because of the risk that the mold will become airborne once remediation begins, the city determined firefighters who occupy Fire Station 5 could not continue to be housed inside. The Fire Department arranged for a trailer to house firefighters to ensure there would be no lapse in service. They have been using it for the last five months.

Martinez hopes the repairs can begin this summer. The goal is to make the station habitable again.

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Fire Station mold repairs could top $200K