Breadcrumb navigation
Page tools
MARCOR Remediation Completes Anthrax Decontamination
Cleaning Millions of Celebrity Photos on File
11/28/2005–Boca Raton, FL–MARCOR Remediation, Inc., a national environmental contractor, is decontaminating more than 8,500 boxes of anthrax-laden archival photos, clippings, and other files stored here at the former home of the National Enquirer, Star, and other tabloid newspapers and magazines.
In what may be the final chapter of the cleanup of the former headquarters of the publishing firm, American Media, Inc. (AMI), MARCOR Remediation is painstakingly disinfecting the exterior of the boxes and then transporting them offsite to be sterilized. The boxes contain millions of photos of celebrities taken over decades, which will be returned to the building’s owner after cleaning.
The AMI building was the first target in a series of anthrax attacks in the weeks following the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Soon afterward, the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. was also attacked. MARCOR Remediation is the firm that helped clean up the Senate Building anthrax, and now brings its expertise to Boca Raton. The AMI building was vacated several days after its photo editor died from inhaling anthrax.
A crew of technicians garbed in protective suits is first disinfecting the exterior of the boxes. They will be transported off-site, where they will be sterilized through high pressure and heat in an autoclave. MARCOR Remediation will then return to the parking garage where the boxes were stored and decontaminate that area, as well. The focus is getting the boxes out, treated, and either properly disposed or returned to the owner to take over possession of them. The process should take about three months.
MARCOR, marking its 25th anniversary, was the first contractor in the U.S. to be licensed to perform asbestos abatement, and the first contractor to be licensed to perform mold remediation. Currently, the company – with 16 offices – is providing a wide variety of environmental services resulting from the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the South. Other services include industrial cleaning, building decontamination, gun range cleanup, plant/process decommissioning and demolition, emergency spill response, and storage tank management.
Clients include industrial and commercial concerns and government agencies, as well as industrial hygienists, environmental consultants, real estate development and property management firms, the hospitality industry, educational institutions, and health care facilities. The website is www.marcor.com.
###
