A fire occurred on the 9th floor in an asbestos abatement area of a twenty-story office building. The decontamination chamber was destroyed and the polyethylene barriers melted. The smoke from the fire rose to the upper floors and the water putting out the fire traveled to the basement. This created a need to survey the extent of the asbestos contamination and a design and specification for cleaning up the building. The entire building was shut down for this investigation.
For the areas above the fire where smoke had risen, the survey of this building included collection of settled soot on top of papers in offices. These results were compared to settled dust in areas not affected by the soot. The soot showed it contained asbestos and therefore all contents affected by the soot had to be cleaned or disposed.
The areas below the fire were more easily identified in areas of water damaged materials. While the materials were still wet, these areas were cleaned up and containment barriers were installed.