3 minute read
Photo essay: Radioactive threats
LAFD responds to low-level radiation near Parking Lot 7
Roundup Staff
The temperature was already soaring when the Los Angeles City Fire Department arrived on scene at Pierce on Friday after calls from construction workers alerted authorities to an unknown substance at the old Chemistry building 800.
Immediately, campus law enforcement responded to the area of Parking Lot 7 near the old Child Development Center and assisted county emergency services personnel. Within minutes, all manner of police, firefighters, EMTs and campus administration had set up a mobile command center and cordoned off a 200 foot perimeter around the building as a precaution. Over a dozen construction workers digging in the area were quarantined and decontaminated as a general precaution, and LAFD Hazardous Waste Containment Team members poured over the area for hours, utilizing specialized equipment designed to register radioactivity.
Firefighters, police and emergency workers braved the heat in cumbersome containment suits to ensure the safety of the campus and to neutralize any threat found. After securing the radioactive materials, emergency workers packed up and left the campus as quickly as they had arrived, having taken the curious substances away with them. The campus was never in any danger of contamination, as the materials were used by chemistry students before the building was closed.
The samples, locked safely in containment vaults, were only disturbed when workers unwittingly cracked the seal while preparing the building for renovation, and campus officials were at the scene throughout to ensure the continued safety and well-being on all students, faculty and staff here at Pierce College.
