Members of Station 87 in North Bend, Wash., a suburb of Seattle, were forced to move out of their building late last week when testing revealed the presence of asbestos.

According to accounts in several Seattle-area papers, including the Times and the Post-Intelligencer, the testing at the station was done as part of a remodeling project, which will serve to update the aging building.

According to reports, the station was first surface tested for asbestos last Wednesday and results came back negative. Deputy Chief Wes Collins noted that further surface testing was done on Thursday, and evidence of asbestos was found at that time, prompting the immediate closure of the station.

Collins reported that it would take several days to determine what remediation efforts might be used to address the problem. He noted that he was unsure of the age of the building but indicated that it was probably built when asbestos usage was the norm.

North Bend firefighters are being relocated to the North Bend Public Works facility and paramedics have been reassigned to the Snoqualmie Fire Station headquarters as a precautionary measure. Currently, Station 87 is home to 15 full-time and 12 volunteer firefighters as well as a crew of paramedics.

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