100 signatures reached
To: Rob Anderson and Rob Price
BOULDER VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT - SMOKE DAMAGE PETITION
We are a group of Marshall Fire survivors, living in Louisville and Superior, Colorado. We are concerned about the long-term health effects of the toxins from the Marshall Fire on the 4,500+ children who attend 8 Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) schools that are within the Marshall Fire burn area.
The fire was not simply a wildfire where trees and grasses burned; it was an urban wildfire where cars, pesticides, solar panels, batteries, paint, and other man-made materials burned and were propelled by hurricane-level winds throughout our community. The byproducts from this fire includ heavy metals (e.g. lead, arsenic, silver, vanadium, chromium, barium), dioxins, furans, and other volatile organic compounds.
This is not hypothetical. Accredited laboratories found these byproducts in the samples taken from smoke damaged homes in Louisville and Superior. You often cannot see these particulates without a microscope and exposure to these toxins can impact long-term health including the respiratory system, neurological development, and increase risk of various types of cancers.
IMPACTED SCHOOLS
Coal Creek Elementary, Fireside Elementary, Louisville Elementary, Louisville Middle School, Monarch K-8, Monarch High School, Superior Elementary, Eldorado K-8. 5 of these schools were in the smoke plume for 10+ hours. 3 of these schools had an Air Quality Index (AQI) score of “unhealthy, very unhealthy, hazardous” for 15+ hours.
OUR ASK
We are petitioning the Boulder Valley School District to test for more than just air quality at the eight schools impacted by the Marshall Fire to ensure all toxins from the fire have been effectively removed so that our children are not being unknowingly exposed to any harmful substances. Specifically, we are asking BVSD to:
1. Hire an independent certified industrial hygienist, with experience with urban wildfires, to take multiple tape and vacuum samples across the impacted schools.
2. Send the samples to an accredited lab for analysis.
3. Publicly share the full IH report and lab results so that our community can be confident that all toxic fire byproducts are no longer present.
The above steps are now commonly recognized as a best practice to ensure proper remediation.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE
BVSD hired Clark Self Clark to advise on cleaning protocols and brought in ATI and ServPro to perform the work to remediate the schools impacted by the Marshall Fire. They wiped all horizontal surfaces, HEPA vacuumed rugs, carpets, and furniture, mopped hard surface floors, changed the HVAC air filters, cleaned the ductwork, ran air scrubbers, and ran hydroxyl generators. Visual inspections were done. BVSD also had the air tested for PM 2.5 and volatile organic compounds and found the indoor air quality safe for the schools to reopen less than one week after the fire.
WHAT HASN’T BEEN DONE
While a lot was done at the schools, it was significantly less than what was done at our homes. For example, almost every home with smoke damage had their insulation removed, attics cleaned, many were encapsulated, and then new insulation was installed. Another example includes how homeowners with smoke damage had to throw out all paper products as the smoke can easily permeate paper products and it is impossible to clean; yet BVSD is not concerned about a paper filing bin that was recently found in a school that has a significant amount of particulates on it that resembled the char found in our homes.
Second, BVSD collected very little data to verify that the efforts to clean the schools were effective in removing all byproducts from the fire. Instead, the school district’s approach has been 'if you can’t see it or smell it, it is safe'. BVSD’s experts do not believe additional tape, vacuum, or wipe testing is necessary due to the lack of visual evidence of fire byproducts in the schools. This is very concerning since we now have data that shows that fire byproducts can still be present after cleaning, even when there is nothing that can be seen or smelled.
BVSD states that the schools were less contaminated than residential homes due schools being built differently. While this may be true, it should be noted that Avista Hospital, took a more scientific approach and collected samples from multiple surfaces and locations beforehand to inform the recommended cleaning protocol. In addition, Avista Hospital conducted post-cleaning testing to verify that the remediation efforts had effectively removed all fire byproducts from the hospital before they reopened.
We are asking BVSD to test the 8 schools, beyond air quality tests, to ensure the remediation efforts were effective and that all fire toxins have been removed. As parents and members of the BVSD community, we urge the district to take this extra step to protect our children's health and safety.
Why is this important?
BACKGROUND
The Marshall Fire started on December 30, 2021, destroyed over 1,000 homes and businesses, and left thousands more with smoke damage.
OUR LEARNINGS
There are hundreds of us who have been navigating smoke damage to our homes over the past 14 months, and we now know that there are plenty of harmful substances that you can’t see or smell that can cause serious harm to our short- and long-term health. We now know that:
* Many of the byproducts of the fire are not visible without a microscope. For example, after the walls in my home were HEPA vacuumed and wiped down they looked perfectly clean. However, through a tape sample sent to a laboratory, we learned there was still char on the walls and therefore the entire interior of the house had to be encapsulated and repainted to ensure toxins in the char would not off-gas in the future.
* Just because something is sealed doesn’t mean smoke and particulate matter can’t get into it. For example, through laboratory tests, someone found char inside a sealed Sterlite plastic bin in their basement. Prior to this finding, the experts believed that if something was sealed or closed (e.g. cabinet, storage bin, puzzle box) that the contents were safe.
* Certain materials are more likely to absorb smoke byproducts. We learned that paper products, unfinished wood, and fibers are more prone to absorb smoke byproducts than sealed wood surface, metal, or glass. For example, I had to throw away every paper product (e.g. books, board games, puzzles, photos, my children’s art and scrapbooks) in my home after the fire.
* Toxins from the fire cannot be removed from thicker porous materials. For example, items like bean bags and thick cushions still tested positive for fire byproducts after cleaning.
Thank you for your support.