(Winnsboro) Sept. 20, 2004 - Five-weeks-ago, eight classrooms inside Fairfield Primary School had mold on the carpet and on books. The rooms have been cleaned and tested since then.

Daniel Cook still doesn't want his son back in the classroom until a public health agency has checked it out, "That's their job. They worry about the restaurants, grocery stores to take care of the public. Public health is their job, what's more public than our children."

Sean McCutcheon has worked in mold remediation for fifteen years. He says there just aren't any federal or state guidelines in South Carolina that regulate mold, "It could be dangerous in high enough levels." He says it's about time standards and licensing were put into place, "It would give something to provide us a goal to reach."

No one can agree on the goals. Sean says, for example, how much mold makes a child sick, "One company says this works for me and one company could say this doesn't work for me? It could be yes, there's nothing out there that puts it at a specific number."

Sean says standards will likely take time and that mold has become a hot issue in the past five years. It's time Daniel says he doesn't have. He points to the Governor's Mansion as an example, "If it's not good enough for the governor to live in an area with mold. Why are children being sent to a school with that problem?"

After three months, First Lady Jenny Sanford is looking forward to moving back into the Governor's Mansion, "It's been a long, long road."

One that started, she says, back in August of last year when her family came home from a vacation to find their home infected with a fungus, "All of our clothes upstairs were covered with mold. Every tie of my husband's had to wiped down, every shoe, every suit had mold on it."

She says the State Budget and Control Board, which owns the house, responded with a short-term solution which was to bring down the humidity levels. That removed the visible mold, "In the meantime, I kept telling them, we should investigate this. They said no."

Frustrated, she hired her own engineer who told her in March there was a problem. She says the state ignored his report as she and her staff became sicker, "We had clogged sinuses, we had a rash, we had hives. I always had a rash on my stomach whenever I was in this house."

The mold started to reappear two months later, "That's when we knew they knew they had a problem and started testing."

Mrs. Sanford says they tested twice, but didn't tell her the results of the second test right away, "They neglected to inform me. In the meantime, my kids were getting sicker."

That day, she says she had enough and moved her family to their home in Sullivan's Island. Work on the air conditioning system started not long after. In retrospect, Mrs. Sanford says she wished she had been tougher with the state earlier, "Here we were in the Governor's Mansion with kids getting sick and staff getting sick and at the end of the day, I wish I had followed my instinct and been a little louder and screamed a little more."

She now recommends to the many parents who call her about mold to be vigilant, "My advice would be to trust your instinct. If you think your child is getting sick. Do everything you can. If that means camp out on the local school board, that's what you need to do."

Her family is scheduled to move back in Thursday.

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	The CSI in Northeast Richland County isn’t a crime investigation unit, but it does solve problems. Catastrophe Services, Inc., a family-owned business, specializes in restoring homes and businesses from disasters such as fire, floods and mold. CSI Inc. was founded by Fred McCutcheon Sr. and his wife, Joan, after Hurricane Hugo hit the area in 1989. Their three sons,
Sean, Scott and Fred Jr., and a cousin, Kenny May, work in the business. They each have certifications as contractors or in other areas.

"My father believes greatly in proper credentials," said Fred McCutcheon Jr., vice president of business development and a Certified Mold Remediator himself. Joan McCutcheon and oldest son, Sean, are both Certified Restorers and Water Loss Specialists. Middle son Scott is a Water Loss Specialist, Certified Restorer and Certified Mold Remediator. Kenny May is Certified Mold Remediator and Certified Restorer. CSI was recently awarded the Healthy Home Award by the National Indoor Air Environmental Consultants, an organization that studies environments. Art Martin of Arthur V. Martin Associates, a consulting company in Waynesville, N.C., presented the award to the business last week. "This is the first award in South Carolina," said Martin, a member of the national board.

In the Midlands, much of the mold talk has centered around the Lexington County Courthouse and artificial stucco homes. People either get very scared about mold or take it seriously enough, said Scott McCutcheon. People don’t have to live in plastic bubbles, but they should pay attention to their homes, he said. Mold needs moisture and an organic food source, like wood or the paper on sheet rock, to grow, he said. Mold will start growing 72 hours after water damage, Scott McCutcheon said. A cup of water on the floor isn’t likely to cause mold, but if there is a leaky pipe under a sink, there may be mold growing, he said.

Mold would get moisture from the pipe and food from the cabinet’s particle board, he said. Home owners can help prevent mold by taking out one of the necessities, such as moisture. Martin said that people can help prevent mold growing in their homes by using air conditioning in the summer months to keep humidity below 60 percent. In the winter, humidity is usually lower than naturally, Martin said. People should also realize that mold particles are always in the air—outside and even inside a home, Martin said. People should also realize that mold particles are always in the air—outside and even inside a home, Martin said. "Mold was around before people," he said. The best anyone can do is try to keep it from growing. Mold removal technology has progressed from the days of cutting a patch for the molded

area or painting over it with a stain-blocker like Kilz, said Scott McCutcheon. CSI Works with independent environmental hygienists like Martin when removing mold. One of the first steps is identifying the variety of mold, through testing. Using the test results, the hygienist writes a step-by-step report on how to clean the area. It takes a few days to get initial test results back. It could take about two weeks to get extensive tests results to know if a particular mold produces a toxin, Martin said. Once the area has been cleaned, the environmental hygienist returns and tests again to make sure the mold has been brought within acceptable levels. There are no set standards for what mold levels and that is where the report from a hygienist is most helpful, Scott McCutcheon said. "The final goal is a clean, healthy building, "he said.

Clean starts at IGA

Derik Newton, of Catastrophe Services, Inc. in
Columbia, loads items to salvage from the shelves of
the IGA grocery store in Johnson, SC, which was
severely damaged by a fire the night of January 29.

Carly Phillips
South Carolina Bureau

Johnston, SC – Monday was the 13th day without power inside the charred IGA grocery store, and the first day workers entered to excavate perishables.

The stench inside the Lee Street store was stomach-wrenching near the meat and the milk.

“If this was August it would be really smelling in here,” said Sean McCutcheon, the vice president of Catastrophe Services Inc., the Columbia company hired to get the food out of the building.

Johnston’s only large-scale grocery store burned the night of Jan. 29 after an electrical problem sparked a fire between the building’s roof and ceiling, officials said. It caused no less than $750,000.00 in damage. Manager Harold Sample said.

The fire began on the eighth aisle, where the paper goods were kept. ”That didn’t help and, “Mr. Sample said. Johnston residents now only have access to a store in Edgefield.

The 6-year-old store is owned by W. Lee Flowers & Co. of Lake City, S.C. Mr. Sample said there has been talk of the company’s using the incident as an opportunity to expand the store and add a deli and a bakery.

Mr. McCutcheon said nothing in the store is salvageable. “This had to be a tremendous fire”.

The store’s 12 full-time employees are being offered the chance to work temporarily at other IGA locations, Mr. Sample said.

However, the closest store is in Gilbert, S.C., about an hour from Johnston, The other locations offered to employees are in Gaston, S.C., Chester, S.C.; and Louisville, G.A., all between one and 2 ½ hours away.