(WHDH) — Someone died in this van of a fentanyl overdose. The front seat is still covered with the deadly drug.
Hank Phillippi Ryan: “What could happen if that door was just opened?”
Mike Wiseman, CEO, 24 Trauma: “Anyone within a 6-foot area, depending on the wind current, could overdose on fentanyl exposure.”
Hank: “From that amount?”
Wiseman: “Absolutely. There’s enough in that vehicle right now that the three of us could do down almost instantly.”
That’s why this company’s highly-trained crews have to be zipped and duct-taped into triple-layer airtight suits and breathing protection to clean it up.
But our investigation found in Massachusetts there’s no requirement for the kind of super-level cleanup only specialized companies can provide.
And now state lawmakers want to change that. As a result of our story, Sen. Richard Ross filed this bill calling for proper cleanup of fentanyl to be mandatory in Massachusetts.
Sen. Richard Ross: “Right now without this bill, people are in danger all the time and don’t know it.”
As Ross explained in this Beacon Hill hearing on the bill, right now someone else’s addiction could be putting you at risk of an overdose.
Check out these photos professional cleanup crews took of suspected fentanyl found in Massachusetts hotels, apartments and rental cars.
Of course police seize evidence of the drugs when they make an arrest or find a body. But here’s the reality: It’s not their job to clean up the crime scene. Police also say they’re concerned.
Chief John Carmichael, Walpole Police: “We’re exposing people to that drug that’s left behind, trace elements of that drug, and you’re putting other people in danger.”
The bill would require landlords, hotels, rental car companies and property owners to have fentanyl professionally cleaned up, and proof of that proper cleanup would need to be submitted to local officials.
Ross told me no other states have such regulations and he’s hoping Massachusetts will be in the forefront.
Ross: “Before we have other issues like this that have taken live we need to make sure we are protecting the public.”
Who would pay for this clean up? That’s all part of the discussion. For more information on the bill:
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/190/S2378
For a link to the original story:
https://whdh.com/news/hank-investigates-fentanyl-cleanup/
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