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YOU ASK. WE INVESTIGATE. Bags of asbestos spotted in vacant lot

Posted at 4:58 PM, Feb 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-03 23:54:09-05
People in a Las Vegas neighborhood are upset about something they spotted at a vacant lot near 9th Street and Stewart Avenue.
 
The house that used to sit there was torn down, but there is still a ton of debris and bags that say they contain asbestos.
 
"There’s seniors, there’s young families, I got babies that live in that house over there," said Doug Demasi. "It’s been pretty crazy."
 
Demasi said the old house was torn down and the bags had been lying out in the open for about a week and a half.
 
"This is not just one or two people that are upset about this, this is a neighborhood that is upset," said Don Walford, who let us know about the bags.
 
Walford said he has been keeping his eyes on this property and first spotted the bags. Days later, he said he saw kids under 10 years old walking through this site.
 
"Walking through this debris, in and of itself, is not a good deal, but some of the bags are open, they’re not even sealed," said Walford.
 
13 Action News got contact information for the property owner, who has a Florida phone number. When we first told him, he said he was not aware of these issues.
 
We also called the spokesman for the city of Las Vegas. Initially, he did not seem too worried because he said this type of asbestos cannot be airborne. He told us the contractors would come out Friday and clean it up, so we made sure they did.
 
On Friday afternoon, after our calls, they came to clean up the bags.