“It’s a mess,” said project manager for Peak Environmental’s Doug Gillett, surveying the Keremeos Hotel property on August 12.
Peak Environmental began the onerous job of clean up of the Keremeos Hotel property this week.
The 108 year old Keremeos landmark went up in flames on July 14.
The company had an excavator and five employees working the site on Tuesday, separating contaminated materials from non-contaminated materials.
Gillett said a portion of the Red Bridge Pub had been identified as having hazardous materials – asbestos – in the drywall mud and in flooring materials. Monitors and pumps had been set up at the work site and across the road at MyTown Realty to gauge asbestos particles in the air. The burned material was being kept in a dampened state as the excavator pulled the materials apart.
“The air quality results are analyzed and a daily report summary prepared,” Gillett said, “It’s all about safety.
Workers, wearing white coveralls and using replaceable filter masks, were disposing of contaminated materials into two dumpsters fitted with a plastic lining. Other materials – concrete, metals, dry, unburned wood and burned wood were separated and placed in separate piles along the east side of the property.
Peak Environmental expects to be on site for 10 days to two weeks to complete the cleanup.
