NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The International Association of Fire Fighters is requesting the county remove personnel from a Castle Hayne fire station after finding a high concentration of severe health issues among the facility’s personnel. The county maintains it has taken necessary action to ensure safety.
READ MORE: Local firefighters speak against becoming ‘human guinea pigs’ due to PFAS exposure
The International Association of Fire Fighters general counsel, Peter Leff, issued a December letter to New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet, Commission Chair Bill Rivenbark, and Fire Chief Donnie Hall urging immediate response to a recent health survey. The informal survey, conducted by Station 13 in July with 23 participants, found over a dozen firefighters at the station suffered cancer and other serious health maladies.
The IAFF expressed concerns that multiple factors — including PFAS exposure, close proximity to a former hazardous waste site, and mold contamination — have contributed to the health issues. The association requested the county carry out expanded chemical and mold testing, formally survey former and current Station 13 firefighters on health impacts, and immediately relocate personnel if it cannot ensure the facility’s safety.
Thirteen out of 23 people in the survey who worked at the station for more than one year reported severe diseases, including kidney cancer, colon cancer, and liver cancer. One firefighter died of cancer this year and at least five had their gallbladders surgically removed.
“The IAFF considers it irresponsible and dangerous for the county to require firefighters to continue to work and live at this station without further appropriate environmental testing and remediation that ensure the site’s safety,” Leff wrote, “and that the harmful substances found there will not further endanger fire personnel.”
The attorney — who wrote on behalf of New Hanover County Professional Fire Fighters Association — told Port City Daily local firefighters reached out to the IAFF around September about their health concerns but had been requesting help from the county for significantly longer.
County attorney Jordan Smith responded to Leff in a Jan. 2 letter. He stated the county is confident it has done everything necessary to ensure the safety of Station 13 personnel, including purchasing and implementing a granular activated carbon filtration system for the facility’s water last year, carrying out multiple water tests in coordination with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, supplying PFAS-free gear for certain responses, and allocating funds for fire personnel cancer screenings.
New Hanover County firefighters are participating in Duke University’s long-term North Carolina Firefighter Cancer Cohort Study on the connection between exposure to hazardous chemicals — including PFAS — and cancer risk. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, firefighters have a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer than the general population. New Hanover County and the IAFF are both currently engaged in national lawsuits related to PFAS-containing foam and gear.
County spokesperson Josh Smith told Port City Daily firefighters will only use the current Station 13 facility — located at 5311 Castle Hayne Road — for roughly nine months until a new station is completed in September 2025.
In August, NHC Department of Health and Human Services Health Director Jon Campbell wrote a memo to Chief Hall in response to health concerns raised by a Station 13 employee. He stated recent DEQ tests show the GAC system has effectively reduced PFAS and other toxins to safe drinking levels, though ongoing monitoring remains essential.
“I have been proactive in communicating with county leadership, New Hanover County Fire Rescue leadership, as well as firefighters at Station 13 related to testing,” Campbell wrote in a statement to Port City Daily. “Throughout this ongoing process, I have answered questions, consulting with appropriate resources to address staff questions.”
The county attorney wrote to Leff that local firefighters could discuss health concerns privately with the health director, but rejected IAFF’s proposal for the county to formally survey Station 13 personnel; he argued it could potentially cause issues for the county as an employer under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act.
Leff rejected the argument and described the county’s reluctance to carry out a formal survey as “disheartening.”
“There’s no law that prevents an employer from addressing health problems with their employees,” he said.
The county has been providing bottled water to Station 13 firefighters since water testing found high PFAS levels in May 2023. The results showed PFOS levels of 74 parts per trillion — far higher than the EPA’s maximum contaminant level of 4 ppt — as well as detections of PFOA at 2.1 ppt and PFHxS at 13 ppt.
The county’s attorney, Smith, emphasized in the letter multiple recent tests have shown PFAS and other toxins at the facility to be below advisory limits. He argued it is difficult to determine causation of Station 13’s cluster of health problems, which could be influenced by other environmental issues faced by the broader community, or hereditary and lifestyle factors.
“Given the complexity of this, it is speculative and unfair to conclude that something at Station 13 is causing the health conditions mentioned in your letter,” the county attorney wrote to IAFF.
Leff countered that the available evidence indicating a cluster of health problems among the facility’s personnel is sufficient for further action to establish causality.
“I found that to be disheartening,” he told Port City Daily. “Because, obviously, we haven’t done studies, but anecdotally in our experience around the country we don’t find that many clusters of health problems — especially similar ones — coming out of one station.”
The IAFF attorney said in similar situations — such as a mold-contaminated fire station in Shreveport, Louisiana — firefighters were moved into a temporary facility.
The county contracts with Phoenix EnviroCorp to carry out inspections of Station 13 twice a year. The contractor discovered mold growth throughout the facility in May, including toxic forms of chaetomium and penicilium.
“It’s our understanding that the mold has not been remediated,” Leff said. “They did a cleaning but that didn’t address the sources of the mold and it continues to return.”
Smith wrote in his letter the county had taken remedial steps in response to recent findings and Phoenix EnviroCorps is monitoring the issue.
IAFF Director of Science and Research Neil McMillans said the occupants should be removed from the facility to prevent exposure to hazardous fungicides during a thorough remediation. He argued the cumulative impact of multiple factors — mold, proximity to a former Superfund hazardous waste site, and PFAS exposure — should be considered as a plausible source of health problems.
“When you start stacking them all together, it can lead to some pretty significant effects,” he said.
Station 13 is in close proximity to the former APAC-Castle Hayne Asphalt Plant — designated as an Inactive Hazardous Waste Site by the Department of Environmental Quality — and the former Reasor Chemical Company site at 5100 N. College Road.
The EPA classified the roughly 25-acre former Reasor property as a Superfund site in 2002 after the discovery of toxic compounds in groundwater, soil, and surface water. The EPA deemed remediation efforts successful in 2018 and removed the site from its National Priorities List, but it remains subject to permanent restrictions on well installation and groundwater use.
The county purchased a vacant 2.2-acre property at 4860 Castle Hayne Road to build the new Station 13 facility for $375,000 in March 2022. A county spokesperson told Port City Daily the new location is planned to be more efficient for the station’s operations.
A month later, real estate firm 6144 Carolina Beach Road LLC purchased the current Station 13 property from Castle Hayne Volunteer Fire Department Inc. for $1.4 million, according to county property records. The purchasing firm’s president is Robert Perkins, president of California-based oil company Romara Energy Inc.
“Building the new Station 13 hopefully will address mold issues,” Leff told Port City Daily. “Our concerns are that they’ll still be using well water [instead] of municipal water at that new facility.”
City council member Luke Waddell — a Cape Fear Public Utility Authority board member — told Port City Daily connecting the station and its surrounding area is one of the utility’s high priorities for grant funding.
“The safety of our firefighters and to that matter all the county employees are of utmost concern to me,” vice chair LeAnn Pierce said. “We have asked to be updated on the details of this issue and continue to press for the safety of our firefighters.”
Leff said the IAFF prefers to cooperate with the county but will consider other options — including going to federal agencies such as the Occupation Safety and Health Administration and EPA — or filing legal action.
Leff noted other citizens and well-users in the area have reported similar health conditions. At a 2007 meeting with the EPA, resident Doug Darrell said four long-time residents in the Castle Lakes neighborhood — about a mile away from Station 13 — developed cancer.
“If we started to look into it,” Darrell asked, “are we going to find that there’s a high incidence of cancer in this area because of this situation?”
Superfund site
The EPA’s first two public meetings for remediation of the former Reasor Chemical Company — in 1997 and 2002 — were held at Castle Hayne Volunteer Fire Department.
Reasor Chemical Company operated a pine stump rendering facility from 1959 until 1972. Environmental investigations determined Reasor contaminated the area, including surrounding wetlands and creeks, with toxic concentrations of volatile organic compounds, metals, and dioxin.
Reasor Chemical representative H.E. Ginn told county officials he wanted the site’s property value reduced in April 1970 because the company was out of business and scheduled to close in December. According to the EPA, a fire or possible explosion destroyed or damaged the company’s remaining buildings in April 1972.
Martin Marietta Minerals purchased the property in 1972 before Cameron family members Hilda Cameron Dill and Jane Cameron Sullivan bought 346 acres, including the chemical site, from Martin Marietta Minerals for $563,980 in 1986. The Camerons uncovered the contamination during a private study and sued the company for failing to disclose its hazardous contamination in 1989.
EPA determined “Potentially Responsible Parties” for site contamination included the property’s current and former property owners. The three parties included Dill, Sullivan, and Martin Marietta Minerals.
After several years of negotiations, the parties entered a consent decree for cleanup efforts with the EPA in 2006. The agency sent its motion to enter the consent decree to the property owners, Yvonne Bailey — Martin Marietta Minerals’ former general counsel and a current member of the Environmental Management Commission — and Cameron Management co-founder Scott Sullivan.
The parties and the EPA agreed to an amended, less expensive remediation plan — around $560,774 — rather than the EPA’s original 2002 plan that ranged from $1.2 million to $2.45 million in costs. The three potentially responsible parties retained contractor Apex Companies LLC in 2007 to carry out remedial action for the site.
JH Land LLC owners Dill and Sullivan sought to rezone a 341-acre Castle Hayne property — including Superfund site — in 2007 to create a residential and commercial complex. The planning board recommended rezoning surrounding acreage but rejected development at the hazardous zone before EPA determined it safe.
EPA’s 2002 plan included an annual sampling of 13 wells for a broad range of volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, metals, and dioxin; changes in the amended 2007 agreement included testing a more narrow range of compounds deemed to be of concern.
EPA officials, Cameron Management members, Martin Marietta representatives, NCDEQ, and Apex inspected the site in April 2017 and determined remediation had been successful. EPA noted treatment did not entirely reduce contamination below cleanup goal levels in a 2018 report, but potential contaminant migration was addressed by treating polluted ponds and excavating contaminated soils.
Tips or comments? Email info@portcitydaily.com
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
