Politics & Government

17 Rooms Sealed Off at Hotel Due to Chemical Lab

The building commissioner says the rooms may be unsealed early next week if testing for environmental hazards comes back clean and there are no other lingering problems.

One of the costly side effects of the at the  last Sunday is that the hotel has had to close off 17 other rooms as well. Not to mention that nearly 200 guests were temporarily evacuated that night as a precaution.

Building Commissioner Kevin Goggin says the additional rooms had to be sealed off and decontaminated due to the chemicals found inside the one ground floor room. , but either way the environmental effects were similar.

Drug authorities say the vapors from the can permeate walls and carpeting, rendering the areas uninhabitable without remediation.

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Goggin said the rooms essentially had to be "scrubbed down" and the furnishings and furniture tossed. Before the rooms can be reopened, environmental testing must be performed, and if there are positive results, Goggin will then inspect the rooms and allow them to be unsealed if he finds no lingering problems.

Goggin said that depending on the test results, he may be making his inspection Monday or Tuesday.

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He said the 17 rooms were mostly on the ground floor as well, although three were on the second floor above the room where the chemicals were found. He said most of the rooms were not occupied at the time.

As for the "lab" room, Goggin said, it will have to be entirely renovated.


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