Radon Reading Closes Pittsfield's West Housatonic Fire Station
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The fire station on West Housatonic Street has been temporarily closed after radon levels were found to be more than twice the normal amount.
Personnel at the station were relocated to the department's headquarters, located at 74 Columbus Ave., on Sunday out of an abundance of caution, said Catherine VanBramer, director of administrative services/public information officer.
The West Housatonic Street station, built in 1951, has an officer and two firefighters on each shift. The station's apparatus has also moved to reserve bay at the Columbus Avenue headquarters.
All of the city's fire stations and City Hall were tested. Once test results indicated concentrations above the recommended action level, the city promptly closed the station and began assessment and mitigation efforts.
Initial tests found radon levels three to four times higher than normal, and further testing is planned in the coming days, she said.
The department's headquarters is about 1.2 miles away from the West Housatonic Street station.
"There are instances where PFD personnel are on a call in one part of the city and must respond to another call in a different part of the city. The team continues to be ready to respond to any calls that are within their service area," VanBramer said.
City Hall is tested for radon approximately every three years. Based on the recent results, the city will consider whether adjustments to the current testing schedule are necessary, VanBramer said.
Radon is a naturally occurring gas caused by the breakdown of radioactive metals in the ground and is a known carcinogen. The average indoor radon level, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is 1.3 picocuries (unit of radioactivity) per liter, or 0.4 for outdoors. There is no known safe level of radon and remediation is recommended above 2 pCi/L.
The Building Maintenance Department has engaged a contractor to design a remediation system that the city's team will install. This system will address the elevated radon levels, and additional monitoring will be conducted to verify that levels remain within the normal range, VanBramer said.
The cost and funding sources to address the situation have yet to be determined, she said.
"At this time, we do not have a definitive timeline but have several steps to complete before we can return personnel to the building, including procuring and installing the required equipment," VanBramer said.
More information on radon and testing for it here.
