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Experts from FMC Landfill assist with Parkersburg clean-up
by David Namanny, Press-News Editor
Experts from Floyd-Mitchell-Chickasaw (FMC) Solid Waste Management Agency, a regional collection center for household hazardous waste, this past Friday traveled to Parkersburg to help with the clean-up from the F5 tornado that tore through that area about two weeks ago.
"Last week I was contacted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The Department was wondering if I and my Hazardous Waste Specialist Tony Hargrave would consider sorting through the piles of hazardous waste the cleanup crews in Parkersburg have, and still are accumulating," explained Ken Heimendinger, Director of the FMC Solid Waste Agency. " Our facility and OSHA Certified Hazwopper staff have the reputation of being proactive, helpful and knowledgeable, and I considered the request to be quite an honor.
At our Full Board Meeting held June 3rd, our board voted unanimously that Tony and I should go assist in the hazardous waste cleanup."
Heimendinger said that after talking to Tom Cain, the main Parkersburg hazmat contact, he was told there was a pile of hazardous materials 30' x 30' x 5' high that needed sorted into its appropriate Department of Transportation (DOT) hazard class.
"Tony and I, over the next days and/or weeks, will be going down to help as much as we can. We have two other OSHA certified employees, Derrick Huffman and Jack Melver, who may help there as well," said Heimendinger. "This will be no easy task, wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment including Tyvek suits, gloves, respirators, etc.) in the hot humid weather coming up, standing on a hard surface all day, and I commend Tony for volunteering his skill and expertise toward this disaster recovery effort."
In the following personal account, sent to the Press-News over the weekend, Heimendinger recounts he and his staff's journey to Parkersburg just a few days ago.
"Friday the 6th was a very windy day, and the landfill closed early due to the extremely high winds. Employees Derrick Huffman, Tony Hargrave, and Jack Melver, along with Ken Heimendinger (Director) decided we should head down to Parkersburg to help with the sorting and disposal of the hazardous wastes different crews and the residents had accumulated. We arrived in Parkersburg around 9 a.m.
As I came into town from the north, even at the 4-way stop where 57 went west to Aplington, I really couldn't see where the damage was. Then, as I topped a knoll, approaching the curve that goes east, I was immediately in the midst of the devastation, and off that curve was our Hazardous Waste collection area.
I knew I was at the right place when I saw the barrels and piles of Household Hazardous Waste surrounded by piles of televisions and appliances.
My first thought was this was unreal and I should take some pictures right away before we got deep into the sorting. I took some, viewed them on the camera, and realized they didn't, and couldn't capture the devastation, as there was really nothing left to take pictures of. I received a phone call while I was working, and the caller asked me what it was like in Parkersburg, to which I replied that taking a drive through the junkyard at Leroy would be the best way I could describe it.
There was a lone Butler County worker on the site, doing all he could to help residents who were bringing in items that couldn't go in the rubble piles (televisions, appliances, hazardous materials). Some drove in, some were walking, some pulling their items in coaster wagons.
They brought in paint, oils, antifreeze, pesticides, herbicides, cleaners, batteries, aerosol cans, and all kinds of things they knew should not be just dumped out on the ground. The city did a great job of communicating to the residents what they should do with their goods.
The toughest part was sorting the Household Hazardous Materials according to the DOT specs we were given. Our Hazardous Waste Specialist Tony Hargrave headed up that effort. All the lawn and bug care items (weed killers, bug sprays, etc.) had to be sorted in numerous categories.
We had to study each container and sort them into Toxics, Flammable Toxics, and Toxic Flammables. I know that sounds confusing, and it really was. Our OSHA Hazwoper Certified staff did a great job in analyzing if an Ortho product, for example, was more flammable than it was poisonous, or vice versa.
We had dozens of totes of unsorted products we had to sort into the proper categories, and seal them in drums, manifesting each item that was in the barrels. While we were there a disposal company come with a large truck, louding out full loads of paints and chemicals. Dozens of truckloads were shipped out in the past week, and there are dozens of loads to go yet.
I asked our county contact what was happening to the rubble. He said that area's waste has to go to the Hardin County Landfill, but if it did, that landfill would be filled to capacity in something like 121 days. So some waste is going to Hardin County, most to Black Hawk County, and some to Cerro Gordo County.
He asked if they could send waste to the FMC Landfill. I told him I wasn't sure if that was possible, as our new cell would fill up immediately, and we wouldn't have the time or money to design and build a new cell for a couple years yet. I asked him if any of the landfills that are receiving waste (and the income) from the disaster had sent anyone down to help with the toxic cleanup efforts, and the answer was a disappointing no.
Several area fire departments and hazmat crews had come in during the initial cleanup, but no landfill people. He was very grateful that in this one day, The Floyd-Mitchell-Chickasaw Landfill contributed 28 man-hours of our Hazmat crew's time and expertise.
We listened to a lot of stories from folks. We heard the story of a man who was in shock, bleeding, walking down the street after the tornado. His best friend died in the tornado. For decades, every day they met at 2:30 for coffee. We learned of the dozens of people whose skin was embedded with dirt, small rocks, and other debris - literally sandblasted. There was a couple who sought refuge under their stairs in the basement. Their house was blown away, and two cars and a boat ended up on top of the stairwell, with them pinned underneath.
Mid-afternoon we were told we should go up to the Veteran's Hall to get some food, as the Red Cross was providing snacks and meals. There was no place left in town to get anything to eat, so I went there. I felt bad doing it, and grabbed my wallet to pay for four meals, but they didn't want my money.
On the way in I followed a young mother with two children who were really just being kids. Not listening to mom real well, but being kids. The mother looked beat, and she was yelling at the kids to behave.
We went through the food line together. She looked at me and I could see how tired she was, and that she had been crying recently. She told me she wasn't a bad mother, yelling at her kids, but she'd had about all she could take. She lost her vehicles, house, and everything they owned in the tornado.
She said she didn't mean to yell at the kids, and said she blamed herself for how they were behaving. They didn't want the beef stew and fruit, they wanted candy and chips. She said it was her fault that the kids were spoiled, that she and her husband let the kids watch TV all the time, play with Gameboys, listen to IPODs, they each had a cell phone, and had to have all the cool clothes.
Now they had nothing, and the kids didn't understand. She blamed herself for not realizing what was important, and interacting with and building a better relationship with her kids instead of letting electronic items take her place. That made me feel bad.
While sorting the HHM's, I ran across some new containers of auto and household cleaners, and horse care products. I thought someone should get some use out of them, rather than the county having to pay for their disposal, so I took a boxful back to the landfill to put in our Swap Room, where residents can come get free, useable products.
I put a new can of tire cleaner on a shelf, and then I felt bad knowing someone bought that to polish their vehicle's tires, and now they probably had no vehicle at all. When I put the Formula 409 and similar products on the shelf, I felt bad knowing so many families had no house to clean anymore. Then I thought of the guy who said his daughter's horse died in the tornado when I put the horse shampoo and wormer on the shelf, and again I felt bad.
I felt good that the residents who had everything taken away from them still cared about their homes and the groundwater enough to take their hazardous waste to a proper disposal area, instead of dumping out the chemicals and other wastes. I felt really good that our Landfill Board of 27 good, kind representatives of each towns in Floyd, Mitchell, and Chickasaw counties, plus a county supervisor from each county, voted unanimously at our meeting last week that Landfill staff could go contribute to the relief effort, as asked by the DNR.
I felt really good that the staff actually wanted to go help, while they could have been at home on a sunny (although windy) Friday.
Story created Jun 10, 2008 - 13:52:15 CDT.
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