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UPDATE:

After posting the following (see below) on Tuesday, East Dallas Councilman Philip Kingston took it upon himself to investigate the asbestos issue at the Lakewood Theater. He learned the contents of the open Dumpster, which caught wind and blanketed the area, did not contain asbestos, according to city officials.

“I just spoke with Frank Rodriguez the inspector,” Kingston’s assistant Connie Sanchez emails. “He said the open dumpster is for non-asbestos material and the closed dumpster beside it is for asbestos material. He said the only thing so far that had asbestos was the cap and it was properly handled.”

Despite the myriad caution signs, the insulation was tested and found to be free of asbestos. I’d still recommend using precautions in the area – workers kicked up enough debris to set off the fire alarm twice on Tuesday and the substance that coated me definitely left its mark. Today, my eye doctor removed a piece of fiberglass from my eye that came from walking too close to the construction site.

Here’s the original post:

asbestoslakewoodtheater

Pretty much anything related to the Lakewood Theater has been hot neighborhood news lately, so when I saw a fire engine with lights and sirens roll up out front of the historic building Tuesday afternoon, I made a mad dash across the street from our office at Lakewood Tower (a.k.a. the Wells Fargo Building).

Turns out that the asbestos abatement work that has been going on intermittently in recent weeks kicked up enough debris to set off the fire alarm.

“Our records indicate we responded there twice for automatic fire alarms. As a result of the work going on inside the theater, some workers stirred up a little too much dust and set the alarm system off,” says Jason Evans of the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department. “Apparently, they didn’t have the alarm system on test so that its activation wouldn’t notify 911.”

Caution sign posted outside the Lakewood Theater.

Caution sign posted outside the Lakewood Theater.

The fire engine was gone by the time I arrived, but when I came around the corner of the theater, I walked straight into a plume of particulate matter from a bin with multiple asbestos caution signs around the site.

Workers, who had no protective gear save for a t-shirt wrapped around their mouth and nose, were dumping fluffy wheelbarrow loads of insulation into Dumpsters. With each drop, a cloud wafted into the air.

Workers abating asbestos at the theater.

Workers abating asbestos at the theater.

I didn’t think much of the incident a first. Most diseases associated with asbestos stem from long-term exposure. But when my eyes began to burn, I reached out to my sister, an environmental chemist and air quality expert. She told me to get home immediately and rinse myself off, fully clothed, in the shower.

I flushed my eyes with drops and thought I could navigate my way home. I made it a few blocks before the burn in my eyes caused so many tears, I couldn’t see. I called an Uber to take me home. A couple showers and multiple eye rinses have left me with sore eyes that are so red I look like I just rolled out of Cheech and Chong’s van.

Keep an eye out if you’re walking in the neighborhood.