BELFOR CREWS SWARM CAMPUS
October 14, 2005

From left, Mitchell Parks and Art Newman, both of Belfor, meet in Howard-Tilton Memorial Library with Eric Wedig, historical and government documents librarian.

Shortly after hurricane Katrina made landfall, when people were getting out of the flooded city and deciding where to go, one group was headed into New Orleans. Belfor USA, an international restoration and reconstruction company, sent crews to Tulane to help the university minimize and resolve the damage to campus facilities and resources.

Belfor specializes in disaster recovery and has repaired sites all over the world, including many of the buildings surrounding the World Trade Center after 9-11. The company was highly recommended to Tulane University by the University of Miami for its work repairing the campus after Hurricane Andrew.

Mitchell Parks, a project coordinator with Belfor, is in charge of the Tulane University response team. He oversees the 400-plus Belfor employees who are working to have Tulane's campuses totally restored—furnishings and all—by December 31, 2005.

“This was the first building that we had air delivered to,” says Parks, standing inside the bustling Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. Giant plastic tubes snake through the doors, pumping in dehumidifying air, while workers in protective suits and masks move throughout the building.

Because the basement of the library had flooded with eight feet of water, Tulane administrators feared that the university's Government Documents collection was destroyed. But Belfor was able to drain the water and retrieve 12,000 boxes of critical documents. They prepared these precious items for shipment to their facility in Fort Worth, Texas, where they will be freeze-dried and restored.

The first floor and all upper floors of the library escaped damage and contain no mold spores whatsoever. “Late last week, an industrial hygienist tested the materials on those floors and found that none were affected by mold,” says Parks.

Most buildings on the uptown campus fared the hurricane well, although some residence halls located on the back half of Tulane's uptown campus between Freret and Claiborne sustained water damage on the first floors only. Belfor is working to contain moisture from spreading to upper floors as they rip out wet construction materials. Then they will move to the cleaning phase.

“We're going to clean the buildings under the protocol that was developed by Tulane University previous to the storm,” says Parks. Tulane has hired an independent industrial hygienist firm to ensure that Belfor meets the university's standards. “They take testing samples to verify that all of the mold has been removed,” says Parks. “Only at that point will the reconstruction efforts begin.”

Belfor is on schedule to completely finish its work by the new year. “It's a big job,” says Parks, “but we'll get it done.”

To read more about Belfor's work on the uptown campus, visit http://www.tulane.edu/belfor.html. Video footage is available of Mitchell Parks introducing Belfor, Belfor at work inside the Mayer residences and restoration of Howard-Tilton Memorial Library.

-- Kathryn Hobgood

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