Cyclone Seroja: Fire and Emergency crews soak asbestos in Kalbarri with chemical bonding and sealing agent

Close to 300L of a chemical bonding and sealing agent has been offloaded in Kalbarri as fears grow over the mountains of asbestos strewn across the cyclone-smashed town. Efforts to get control of the fibrous material ramped up today, with teams of Fire and Emergency crews seen wetting down streets blanketed by the deadly material. By soaking it, the Asbestos is less likely to break up and crumble into smaller and more dangerous pieces and fly through the air. But as Sunday’s Category Three cyclone has proven, nothing can put an end to the elements, and no amount of planning can stop gusts of wind from picking up the broken material and sending it flying through the air. Cars and trucks have been travelling up and down Hackney Street in Kalbarri for the past three days, crushing and pulverising the large amounts of asbestos into the ground. It was only today that the heavily-impacted street – flanked by rows of family homes – was cordoned off with warning tape, warning residents to avoid the section of street at all costs. Insisting it was safe enough for residents to walk around without face masks on, DFES Assistant Commissioner Rick Curtis said “asbestos, whilst hazardous … in the current state is not of immediate threat to life”. He told media today expert advice from the Department of Health had also deemed air monitoring not to be of importance. “Asbestos is an emotive topic for obvious reasons. The approach we're taking has been proven in previous events of the Yarloop and Wooroloo bushfires. And we're working with the community to make the area safe before moving into the... more formal clean-up,” he said. “Where asbestos in its current form is changed, either disturbed or crushed then we will seek to isolate that area and remove it from public view or remove the public from that area. “Bear in mind this is a magnitude event.” The statement came just minutes after residents were urged to take how-to-remove-asbestos fact sheets at today’s community meeting at the local golf course. When asked about the hand-outs, Assistant Commissioner Curtis insisted it was just “about providing awareness and guidance”. "I think it's reality that public and community will want to get on with their lives,” he said. “We are not advocating or indicating that they should interfere with asbestos, but we are also with regards to reality we understand that community want to get on with their life. “So we need to give awareness and messaging both from a safety perspective and an awareness perspective.” While national statistics estimate at least one in three properties have asbestos in them, authorities now expect at least one quarter of the properties in Kalbarri are contaminated with the material, which becomes most dangerous when it is crushed or broken up. A total of 260L of well-known bonding and sealing agent, BondCrete – sourced from hardware stores in Geraldton, was offloaded from a DFES helicopter in Kalbarri and Northampton today. At least 130L of that concentrate will be blended with water and a colour compound – so residents and emergency services can spot it – from today and sprayed across asbestos-riddled roads and paths to suppress and bind the toxic material and hopefully mitigate the risk to residents’ health. Crews will also be sourcing 1000L IBC containers to store the chemical in, and supplying dust masks and hand sanitiser to those carrying out the operation. While Fire and Rescue decontaminate, SES volunteers will continue attending to the more than 200 calls for assistance from locals – just over half of the jobs they have already completed since Monday. The Health Department has not visited Kalbarri since ex-Tropical Cyclone Seroja hit at 7pm on Sunday night, but do have personnel in Geraldton. Australians have died from asbestos diseases, like mesothelioma, contracted from the clean ups of past cyclones, including most notoriously Cyclone Tracey that devastated Darwin in 1974.