Firefighters Possibly Exposed To Contaminated Wastewater According To New Criminal Charges
The health of Washington firefighters is at the heart of a new criminal case filed by the state.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed criminal charges Tuesday against George Campbell and his company Broadband Environmental Service Inc.
The company does wastewater sampling and monitoring, and submits much of its data to the Department of Ecology.
Broadband ran a reclaimed water facility at the state patrol's fire training academy in North Bend for about six years from 2009-2014.
The attorney general contends that during that time Campbell submitted false water quality data 177 times. Ferguson said that may have led to contaminated water being sprayed directly on firefighters, structures and the surrounding land.
The academy reclaims water from its own dormitories, kitchen and offices and uses it in firefighting exercises.
The state alleges Broadband allowed firefighters to use water that hadn't met quality requirements.
The company has been charged with one felony count of filing a false record and one count of conspiracy to file a false record, a gross misdemeanor.
A request for comment from the company wasn't immediately returned.
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Paige Browning
Newscaster
Paige hosts midday newscasts and monitors news of significance to the Puget Sound region. She hopped over Washington’s mountains to join KUOW, after hosting news and reporting at Spokane Public Radio since 2011. She began her start in radio while a journalism student at University of Montana, by sharing stories with KUFM. Paige was raised in the mountains and rivers around Spokane. In her spare time she cheers on the Mariners in the summer, and hopes for snow in the winter.
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