Contractors work on cleaning out Wright

The town of Coulee Dam and the school district teamed up early this week to get sufficient power to A.E. Wright Elementary so the abatement of hazardous materials could begin before the old facility is torn down to make way for a new school.

IRS Environmental, a sub-contractor, was on site Monday getting set up to build containment areas so they could work on removing asbestos that laces the old school.

General contractor Elder Demolition of Spokane, said the abatement process will take several weeks and then demolition will begin.

Elder will have 75 days to get the project finished. Project manager Justin Arrand, said Monday that he didn’t see any problems. His company at the same time is dismantling an aluminum plant and another big mill.

“But we like to do the small jobs because we can relate to people in the area,” he said. “Here, if someone comes along and says that they would like a board or other material because they went to school here, we’ll try to accommodate them.”

Right now, Elder workers are clearing the rooms of materials that were left behind. Then, IRS workers will come in and set up their removal gear.

“When you see that black trailer leaving the site, you’ll know that it is the hazardous material leaving the area,” Arrand noted.

IRS workers will isolate an entire room or section of a room, collect hazardous material and then move on.

Workers plan to do the south wing first. Work should be complete by Oct. 13.

Concrete and pavement will be crushed and retained on site for fill purposes when the new construction gets underway.

The schedule calls for the project to go out to bid next January with construction to follow. The school will be occupied in the fall of 2014, if everything goes on schedule.