Gander's 103 Search and Rescue Squadron is home for Christmas.

The squadron, including its two Cormorant helicopters, was displaced from Hangar 1 at 9 Wing Gander after an air quality check earlier this year found high concentrations of asbestos in dust, said Commander Lt.-Col. Jenn Weissenborn.

"The air testing always was clear," she said.

"However, if it's in the dust it eventually has to be cleaned. But because it wasn't airborne, and the airborne particulate is what can pose a risk to human health, that's why we were very deliberate in the process of addressing it."

The carcinogen may now be cleaned up, but Weissenborn said where it came from is still unknown.

"It is an old building. Some of the areas that the wipe samples in the settled dust were taken were on ceiling beams," she said.

"I can only speculate that it's possible that's been there since the hangar was constructed or when the additions were put on, because the Wing has an asbestos management program."

Cleaning began earlier this month

The asbestos was discovered in October, and cleaning began Dec. 4. While the work was underway, 103 Squadron worked out of the St. John's airport to maintain uninterrupted search and rescue operations.

While the military's health authority considered the asbestos to be low-risk, concerns by contractors prompted the move until the dust could be cleaned up.

The original plan had been to avoid disturbing the dust, as it was in "seldom accessed or cleaned areas," according to a press release — ceiling beams, the tops of electrical panels and shelving units.

It costs what it costs. You have to clean it. - Jenn Weissenborn

"The building is kind of chunked-out in partitions, so that makes it somewhat time-consuming to clean. But it allows, once an area is cleaned — like the alert base — then we can keep that sealed, bring the helicopter back, which we did [Saturday], to stage SAR operations back out of Gander," said Weissenborn.

Space in St. John's

The important thing was to protect people's health while keeping search and rescue operations running smoothly, but the tricky part was finding a place to put the helicopters, she said.

"Thankfully some space was found with the Canadian Coast Guard in St. John's, so they accommodated us. As well, when some commercial hangarage became available, we put the second aircraft in that in St. John's," she said.

As for the cleanup's cost, Weissenborn said the final total isn't in yet.

"We're getting the costs in now. We're going to be rolling that up in January," she said.

"But it has to be done, right? So it's not like, 'Oh, it's too expensive, we're not going to do it.' It costs what it costs. You have to clean it, so it's better to just get it done and get back to normal operations."

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