The old Grenada County Hospital in Mississippi has an estimated 28,000 sq. ft. of asbestos, according to Bo Fleming of Anderson Environmental Service.

Demolition has been delayed as a result, but Fleming said the Jackson based company has environmentally certified people removing it.

Architect George Mullen Jr. told the Grenada County Board of Supervisors earlier this week the building could not be torn down until the asbestos is removed.

"The demolition was on schedule and now we have a problem," said Mullen to the supervisors.

The county has now acquired Anderson Environmental service to take the job of removing the asbestos from the building, a job that has to be precise, according to Fleming.

Fleming said once removed from the building, the asbestos will be taken to the nearest waste landfill, which is in Greenwood.

According to Fleming and Mullen, the government has regulated asbestos in buildings.

"The building has asbestos throughout its entirety," Fleming said, "In the floors, in the walls, and in the boiler room."

Fleming said the substance can be very hazardous when disturbed, such as with drilling.

Mullen said it is called Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) and in the old hospital, it was used for all sorts of installation.

"If the building was demolished containing the ACM, it would be unknowingly harmful to the people tearing it down," Mullen said. "It's something that has to be done."

According to Fleming, buildings built before 1978 may contain asbestos. The Old Hospital Building was built in February 1927.

In fact, former Grenada educator Carl Cooper, 80, agreed with Fleming that all the older buildings contained asbestos.

"The hospital was there in the 1930s when I was a little boy, and I taught for years at the old John Rundle Building," Cooper said. "The buildings then used steam for heat and the asbestos was needed," Cooper said.

After the ACM is removed from the building, the demolition process will begin.
Fleming said removal of the asbestos could take up to a month.