WYOMING, MI - Shiny new lockers sit in a freshly-painted room that used to be an indoor firing range at the Grand Valley Armory in Wyoming. The storage space for 260 soldiers was installed after years of lead dust buildup at the former firing range was removed earlier this year.

Michigan National Guard's indoor firing ranges closed in 1996, but the mess they left polluted parts of facilities beyond them. Testing in 2014 and 2015 showed lead dust levels above recommended levels, including at the Wyoming armory.

Lead dust was allowed to accumulate in National Guard armories across Michigan for decades, exposing soldiers and the even the public to potentially dangerous lead levels. Officials knew about the high levels of lead dust, records show, but waited at least a year to take action, only after the U.S. National Guard told them to.

"I can't speculate on what decision was made in the past or how long lead has been building up," Michigan National Guard spokeswoman Maj. Corissa Barton said. "I don't know. We don't have the people that were here previously to tell us."

Lead dust produced when guns were fired collected inside ranges, allowing unsafe levels to get into armory ventilation systems, hallways, kitchens, drill rooms and areas accessed by the public before the 2016 cleanup, reveal documents obtained by the Oregonian/OregonLive, a sister company to MLive.

The National Guard's 1,800 indoor firing ranges across the United States were supposed to be well-ventilated, cleaned regularly and equipped with air filters to prevent lead from spreading. But people tracked dust outside of the ranges and ventilation systems scattered it to other parts of buildings and outside them, according to inspection records. Records showed, for example, lead dust above recommended levels found on a refrigerator at the Port Huron armory and an ice machine at the Cheboygan armory.

A February 2015 sampling of Grand Valley Armory in Wyoming, near Grand Rapids, showed lead results more than 2,000 times the acceptable concentration of 200 micrograms per square foot for a commercial setting, located at the backstop of the former range. High lead dust levels were found in samples taken from HVAC vents in other rooms, and elsewhere, inspection reports show.

In Dowagiac, 45 miles southwest of Kalamazoo, March 2015 sampling uncovered hazardous lead levels throughout the National Guard armory's drill hall, on the floor, window sills, in the ventilation system and on an exit sign. In the old shooting range, which was cleaned before being converted into a locker room, lead dust was found in light fixtures, the ventilation system, on an I-beam and the floor.

Despite test results showing potentially unsafe lead levels, the building stayed open. The Dowagiac Union High School volleyball team was allowed to hold registration for a summer camp at the armory four months after the inspection, even though the building hadn't been cleaned. Dowagiac Union Athletic Director Brent Nate said he did not recall any conversations with National Guard officials about lead dust.

28 armories targeted

The Michigan National Guard saw hazardous test results from some facilities in 2014. It did not take action, however, until after the U.S. National Guard sent a September 2015 memo instructing armories across the country to check for and remove lead dust in order to meet commercial standards throughout the facilities, and standards of 40 micrograms per square foot in public areas.

After the September 2015 memo, the issue was "taken a little more seriously," Barton said.

"We almost overreacted," she said about the response.

A change in staff in mid-2015 was part of the reason the Michigan National Guard didn't act sooner to address lead testing results, Barton said, and officials can't find records that show how long it knew about the presence of lead dust at potentially unsafe levels.

"The best we can do now is (act) as soon as we can and move forward," she said.

Michigan officials identified 28 armories in need of action and sent out a news release in January 2016 laying out their plans, including temporary armory closures, limiting public access and posting signs. Actions were based on where lead was found, and where community events could be held, Barton said. Staff was kept out of other areas, like the boiler room at Grand Valley Armory, which remained locked for further testing as of Dec. 2.

"You want to take the highest level of mitigation possible to ensure you're not putting anyone at risk until you have a full grasp of what the situation is," she said. "Better to be careful than to let everyone in and put them in harm's way."

The armories identified for immediate action in a January were: Adrian, Albion, Alma, Baraga, Bay City, Big Rapids, Dowagiac, Gladstone, Grand Ledge, Grand Valley, Greenville, Howell, Ishpeming, Kalamazoo, Kingsford, Lansing, Manistee, Marquette, Midland, Montague, Pontiac, Port Huron, Saginaw, Saginaw, Sault Ste. Marie, Sturgis, Taylor, and Washtenaw.

Records showing lead sample amounts have not been made public until now. The Oregonian/OregonLive compiled inspection results comprising more than 23,000 pages of public records from 38 states, including Michigan, in an 18-month investigation.

The Michigan National Guard worked during 2016 on the cleanup.

While most of the lead came from former firing ranges, in some cases, it was left by construction crews, Barton said. In one case, lead dust was found on top of a vending machine and officials don't know how it got there, she said.

Updated housekeeping practices were enough to get rid of the lead at some locations, she said.

'It seemed pretty clean'

Paul Lehto, 70, spent 21 years training as a combat engineer during weekends at the Iron River Armory before retiring in 2006. He estimated the gun range in the basement of the Upper Peninsula facility was closed by the mid-1990s and converted to two rooms, mostly used for storage.

"It seemed pretty clean to us," he said about the time following the range's closure. "We didn't think about it at that time. We just knew the state came in, cleaned it up and turned it into two rooms."

Lehto said he wasn't concerned about sampling results from February 2015 that showed lead dust levels as high as 612,727 micrograms per square foot in part of the HVAC system and a report that said, "old ductwork must be removed."

A portion of the HVAC at Iron River had the highest amount of lead dust found in Michigan armories, equal to more than 3,000 times the acceptable amount in a commercial setting.

Barton said she didn't know why Iron River wasn't listed with the other 28 armories needing immediate action, despite lead levels above recommended amounts. She confirmed Dec. 2 that all Michigan armories are now open, though testing continues on some portions of the buildings.

Before it was closed, Lehto said he typically went to the gun range once a year to qualify for the National Guard, though much of his training was outdoors. He said the gun range was also used by the Michigan State Police. He doesn't remember hearing of anyone with health impacts from lead exposure at the armory, and added that he believes safety is of paramount importance to the Michigan National Guard.

A lead hazard sign is posted on the boiler room door at the Grand Valley Armory on Friday, Dec. 2, 2016 in Wyoming, Mich. (Chelsea Purgahn/Kalamazoo Gazette)

Michigan State University professor Kenneth D. Rosenman, chief of MSU's Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, said the hazards of lead-containing dust would depend on the concentration of lead, the amount of time a person was exposed to it, and what they were doing.

"During the active use of a firing range, instructors, frequent users and particularly individuals who do clean up or collect spent bullets develop lead poisoning unless the ventilation is adequate and proper work practices and personal protective equipment is used during cleanup," Rosenman said.

Exposure from bullets is the source of lead for approximately 15 percent of adults whose lead exposure occurs at work and 70 percent of those whose lead exposure occurs in non-work settings in Michigan, he said, citing an annual report examining 2014.

"Certainly dust containing lead is a potential hazard to adults using the armories," Rosenman said.

There are no known complaints and no reported health issues from lead at Michigan armories and the National Guard is confident it has taken "the most aggressive approach in the nation to ensure no one was at risk," Barton said.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Air Quality Division said indoor gun ranges don't need an air permit if they agree to install a proper filtration system.

Extensive cleanup efforts

"It's highly unusual for a gun range to go the permit route," Acting Field Operations Supervisor for the DEQ's Air Quality Division Chris Ethridge said, and most install filters and avoid the requirement. He did not immediately know specifics about ranges at Michigan armories.

All of the armories are now open after "extensive efforts" to clean up areas accessed by the public, Barton said.

The majority of the Michigan National Guard's full-time soldiers participated in voluntary blood tests in 2016, and all of them came back negative for lead, she said. State workers who do maintenance on the buildings were also offered the testing that yielded no positive results for lead, she said.

There wasn't much of a public health risk, Barton said, and the greatest threat would be someone touching lead and putting it in his or her mouth.

"Other than that, your risk is incredibly small and almost no risk at all," she said.

Michigan Environmental Council Health Policy Director Tina Reynolds said the most common pathways of child lead exposure are lead paint in homes and at playgrounds, but she believes every pathway to potential lead exposure should be looked at.

No amount of lead is good for a child, she said, and a small amount of dust at an armory or tracked home by a parent could expose a child to higher-than-recommended lead levels. Lead poisoning in children could lead to developmental delays, learning difficulties, irritability, vomiting, hearing loss and more, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Barton said the risk of lead being tracked from armories was low, because most of the lead dust was not found on floors.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the issue, saying its Healthy Homes Section only regulates or provides assistance to child-occupied buildings, like homes and day cares.

A renovated distance learning center room, which was once where the military band held practice, at the Grand Valley Armory on Friday, Dec. 2, 2016 in Wyoming, Mich. (Chelsea Purgahn/Kalamazoo Gazette)

The Michigan National Guard's effort to remove lead dust is part of a push to modernize the organization and its facilities, Barton said. Besides the new locker room, the Wyoming facility also recently converted a former band practice room into a classroom, where a pallet of laptops wait to be set up for use as distance education for soldiers.

"We've been at war for 14 years now," Barton said. "Our focus has not been on the armories. Our focus has been on getting our soldiers from overseas back home safe."

Now the organization is taking some time to "reset," she said, to address some things that fell by the wayside before and to make plans for the future, which will include annual testing for lead dust.

The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.