Noon Edition airs on Fridays at noon on WFIU.   

On Nov. 5 the Bloomington Fire Department did a control burn exercise of a house on South High Street. 

The fire department used the controlled burn as a training exercise and had the plan approved by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. 

However, paint flakes from the house tested positive for lead, which was banned for consumer use by the government in 1978. The pain flakes scattered across the neighborhood in the coming days.

The city was required to remove carpeting, asphalt shingles, vinyl siding and other materials prior to the burn, but removing lead paint was not mentioned.

The city has contracted with an Indianapolis-based company to vacuum up paint flakes and ash from the affected areas, which the executive director with the Indiana Environmental Institute says should be an adequate effort.

The city has started to remediate city residents in areas directly affected by the burn.

Money to cover the cost of the cleanup will come out of the Bloomington Fire Department’s budget, according to the fire chief, Jason Moore.

This week on Noon Edition, we’ll talk about the controlled burn, how it’s affected Bloomington residents, and how clean-up is being handled.

You can follow us on Twitter @NoonEdition or send us questions for the show at news@indianapublicmedia.org.   

Note-This week, our guests and hosts will participate remotely to avoid risk of spreading infection.    

Patrick Beane assisted in the reporting for this post.

Guests   

Jason Moore, Bloomington Fire Department Chief

Leah Wood, IUPUI researcher in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Matt Murphy, resident in area near burn

Mary Catherine Carmichael, director of public engagement in the Bloomington Office of the Mayor