First Responders Not Responsible For Neshaminy Cleanup Costs

Local fire departments and a police SWAT team will not owe the Neshaminy School District for damage they reportedly caused to a school that was about to be torn down.

Paul Minotti, Neshaminy’s director of operations, said last week that the $14,255 cleanup bill will be paid for by the school district. He said the district and the first responders who trained at the old Tawanka school in Lower Southampton in summer had a verbal agreement the district would pay for any site costs related to the training.

Last month, an official from Reynolds Construction Group said the firefighters were expected to cut one hole in the roof of the school. They were also expected to “bang some doors and spray water in the building.” After the training ended, construction crews said they found firefighters ripped asbestos contaminated blackboards from the walls of the school, cut 13 holes in the roof and left shattered glass throughout the closed school, which was demolished in the days after the training took place.

Last week, Minotti revealed a SWAT team also had permission to train in the building and destroyed some doors.

Crews from fire companies in Falls Township, Langhorne, Lower Southampton, Penndel, Middletown, Northampton, Upper Southampton and Warminster all took part in the various training drills held at the school. The SWAT team that participated in the training was not released.

The school board agreed in May to let the first responders train in the building but neither side signed an agreement, according to Lower Southampton Fire Marshal Oettinger and Minotti. Former Superintendent Robert Copeland was also looped in on the planned training at the closed school.

At a previous school board meeting, the cost of the damage was estimated at $21,400, but that number was reduced once other non-related cleanup work was taken out of the bill by Reynolds, Minotti said.

Much of the cost came from contractors cleaning broken glass, removing debris and fixing holes cut in the roof by firefighters practicing venting the building. District officials have said the holes to the building had to be patched to create “negative pressure” during the demolition process.

At a previous meeting, school board members Mike Morris and Mark Shubin both asked the administration to look further into the issue. Morris cited his support for firefighters but concern the school district has to shell out money to clean up the damage. Both said they worried about the liability the district faced if someone was hurt on the debris or if they come down with an asbestos-related illness.

Minotti told LevittownNow.com he does not believe the firefighters inhaled any dangerous levels of asbestos.

Emergency responders did provide proof of insurance to district officials before the training, the operations director said.

A new 800-student school is currently under construction at the Tawanka site.