KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Firefighting is a dangerous job, but a Spectrum News 13 Watchdog investigation has uncovered a hazard that firefighters in one city didn’t expect to face when they walked into work — and the fix will cost taxpayers close to a million dollars.

• Records: Mold problem at Kissimmee Fire Station 14 dates to 2017
• Firefighters have brought new mold concerns to administrators
• Since 2017, work to alleviate mold concerns have cost about $13,000
• Major renovation this summer expected to cost over $800,000

The health hazard is mold.

Fire crews at Kissimmee Fire Station 14 first reported it in 2017, and now, two years later, the city is paying for a major renovation.

This isn’t a new problem. 

Emails we obtained from the city show that as far back as September 2017 — shortly after Hurricane Irma — a fire department logistics manager wrote to the fire chief: “The city paid an engineer to inspect the building and as far as I know the west wall/roof was the only one identified in his report as needing having damage."

A week later, he sent an email about a quote for a mold test that added, "The station has had water intrusion issues for several years."

Documents show that the city hired a mitigation company to dry out Fire Station 14 and replace insulation. Exterior walls were also painted and treated with waterproofing. Fresh drywall cost almost $4,000.

A month later, that same manager wrote: "The report was well done and most of the station had an acceptable level of mold."

Another 2017 email from a fire department administrative official refers to water leaks as an "ongoing issue," calling prior work "a shoddy repair job."

"Mold can be very serious"

Dr. Manuel Faria of the Cellular Health Institute treats patients who have been exposed to mold. He told us that if mold isn’t remediated properly, it can be detrimental to employee health.

"Mold can be very serious," Fria said. "There are lingering effects that can happen with mold toxicity, and it can happen in a fire house, police (station), an office building that you work in — it can happen anywhere." 

Kissimmee Fire Chief Jim Walls said the health of his firefighters is the department's top priority.

"There health is our number one concern. We need them healthy to go out and do the job we do every day and stuff," Walls said.

Two years have elapsed since the original remediation, and all appears in order. But an email dated this year from the logistics manager to the fire chief recapping how the issue was handled mentions that "the roof was not addressed."

That email was a response to a January complaint from a lieutenant to the logistics department that said, "I have guys that are complaining of feeling sick while at work and living in the station (#14) and go home and feel better and are fine."

The lieutenant continues: "These are health concerns of the personnel that work here."

Mold concerns re-emerge

Earlier this year, fresh air quality reports said mold was found in a back bunk room and an upstairs loft at Fire Station 14. Those areas were immediately shut down.

The city ordered remediation — at a cost of just more than $8,000.

That brought the total cost of mitigation and remediation work just on Fire Station 14 in the past two years to about $13,000.

When we asked why the roof was not repaired two years ago, the city’s public works engineer sent us a statement that said city workers didn’t think the roof was the source of the issue but rather "stucco cracking." He said the roof is just old.

Now, the city is planning to renovate the building at an expected cost more than $800,000. That renovation will include reskinning the exterior, plus a new roof.

"We are doing everything we can as soon as possible to totally renovate that station and prevent anything like this from happening again," Walls said. 

Kissimmee leaders on Tuesday night approved $310,000 to be used to replace the roof on Fire Station 14.

Spectrum News 13 also uncovered mold problems at Kissimmee Fire Station 12 and Station 13 this year. The fire chief said mold has now been remediated at all Kissimmee fire stations.

Renovations on Fire Station 14 are expected to start this summer.