(Image via New York Times)
Social Media Manager: Samantha McCarthy
Email: smccarthy12@umassd.edu
14 staff members at Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter (YVAS) were hospitalized after the FBI burned two pounds of seized methamphetamine in the facility’s incinerator.
The shelter in Billings, Montana, filled with smoke as the FBI, who were authorized to use the facility to burn narcotics, burned the seized drugs.
Triniti Halverson, who runs the shelter, told the New York Times that “something smelled off,” and she soon came to realize the masses of smoke billowing down through the building.
Halverson and 13 other employees worked to evacuate over 70 cats and dogs that had been exposed to the smoke. All animals were sent to temporary homes, and four litters of kittens that were more intensely exposed are under supervision and are doing well.
With minor respiratory problems, they are all expected to make a full recovery.
“My team and my animals had been confirmed to have been exposed to meth,” Halverson wrote in a statement.
Halverson told local newspaper Q2 Billings that about half of the employees have been back to the hospital after the incident occurred.
“I do still have a handful of staff members that are experiencing negative side effects and symptoms from smoke inhalation. And I’ve had probably about half now return to the hospital for additional care since the first night,” she said.
Halverson was completely unaware of the narcotics being burned on-site. While the FBI does have the authority to use the incinerator, which is most often used to dispose of euthanized animals, she has been trying to take this privilege away.
She alerted the city of Billings about two years ago with concerns of a backdraft and smells coming from the incinerator.
“Honestly, it was really difficult to have it taken seriously. I had to kind of push and push,” she told Q2 Billings.
Two companies were eventually hired to investigate the issue and reported a negative air pressure problem, saying repairs were necessary.
The report read: “There is an exhaust fan with no makeup air, when turned on this will cause the building to go even more negative. Solutions would include a new building automation system with a variable frequency drive (VFD) on exhaust fan. Logic would include tracking building pressure with both exhaust fan speed and economizer damper located on air handler.”
The city of Billings said that repairs were made, but the FBI continued to burn narcotics without Halverson’s knowledge.
Halverson states she refuses to return to the facility until the incinerator is shut down.
“They continued to dispose of dangerous drugs in an animal crematorium on a site where there are people and animals instead of using an appropriate incinerator for that job,” Halverson told Q2 Billings.
YVAS is now patiently waiting for reports of the damage done to the building. Methamphetamine smoke can permeate through a myriad of materials such as drywall, wood, and insulation, which poses a challenge to the shelter.
Newman Restoration, a Billings-based company, has been hired to evaluate the damage. Andrew Newman, owner and CEO, expressed his concerns with the building to Q2 Billings.
“The smoke or the substance can permeate into absorbent building materials, and so when that happens over time, it’s continuously off-gassing, and it’s recontaminating the atmosphere,” said Newman. “I think what we’re going to find is where the source originated, those building materials are going to be impacted probably to the point where a lot of that stuff’s going to have to be removed and rebuilt.”
Newman also emphasized the uniqueness of the situation, saying, “Typically, what we’ll see is more on the residential side with, you know, kind of a meth lab that either caused a fire or triggered some type of needing remediation. With this being a larger commercial facility and what the intentions were, it makes it a unique situation and cleanup.”
With many factors up in the air right now, YVAS employees and supporters are hoping for the safe and complete restoration of the facility.