Crews mop up after police; meth labs leave toxic mess

Jace Radke

Friday, Aug. 13, 1999 | 11:22 a.m.

Metro Police are arresting methamphetamine producers at a record pace this year, but getting the drug producers off the streets also is leaving a record number of toxic messes to be cleaned up.

After clandestine meth cooks are arrested, the motel room, apartment or house they are using for a lab is left contaminated and unsafe to live in until cleaned.

The dangerous chemicals used in manufacturing the drug leaves landlords and property owners looking for professional cleanup help.

Rick Keema, the owner of Nevada Crime Cleaners, a firm that specializes in the cleanup of meth labs, murders and suicides, has seen his business shift its focus to meth lab cleanups in the last three years.

"When we initially started the company in 1996, cleaning up meth labs wasn't one of our services," Keema said. "We didn't see that as a high-demand area, but now about 50 percent of our business is meth lab cleanup."

Metro has closed over 210 labs this year compared to 257 busts all of last year. All meth labs are deemed by the government to be hazardous waste sites that must be cleaned up by qualified disposal companies like Crime Cleaners.

"We follow OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards in our cleanups," Keema said. "Most of our calls are from people in the service industry who have had a lab busted in their motel or apartment complex."

About 40 percent of the labs found each year are in hotels and motels, especially daily and weekly rental operations that offer kitchenettes.

"Our main goal is to get in and clean up the problem and get that business back open as soon as possible," Keema said.

Keema, who also works in law enforcement in Nevada, and his crew of four cleaners dress from head-to-toe in protective suits including gas masks when working in a meth lab environment.

In some cases the chemicals used to make meth have seeped into the carpets, floors or walls of a room where the drug was produced.

"An extensive cleanup of a meth lab where we have to tear out floors and drywall can cost up to $1,000," Keema said. "Generally cleanups can range from $100 to $10,000, but meth labs usually are $1,000 or less."

The cost for cleaning up after those producing the drug is high, but can't be helped, said Capt. Carlon Fruge of Metro's criminalistics bureau.

"These are hazardous wastes that have to be disposed of properly by people that are trained to handle these chemicals," Fruge said. "It is expensive, but we don't see a way around it."

Most meth labs are not very big, but still require a thorough cleanup, Fruge said.

The majority of labs that Metro comes across in Las Vegas can fill the size of an apple or orange box. The average meth cook's setup is made of a heating element, often a hot plate, glasswear to cook in, tubes to funnel the gases and a dozen or so plastic bottles used to pour the various chemicals into the mixture.

These cooks usually don't mind a few chemical spills on the carpet or the walls, but the hazardous spills have to be cleaned, Fruge said.

"Chemicals from a methamphetamine lab are the most difficult to clean, with even a small stain considered a hazard," Keema said. "All the cleaning solutions and solvents we use are hospital grade, and it's not stuff you're going to find on your supermarket shelves."

Once the chemicals and contaminated waste are collected by companies like Keema's, they are transported to a licensed chemical waste disposal company such as Environmental Technologies.

Crime Cleaners also disposes of biological wastes -- body fluids and blood -- at Environmental Technologies.

"Besides cleaning up the meth labs, the other 50 percent of our business is still helping people with homicides and suicides," Keema said. "We haven't neglected the need for homicide and suicide cleanup with the rash of meth labs. Instead we've just stretched our services."

Keema says that in his job in law enforcement he would often be at the scene of a murder or suicide and see the victim's family wondering what to do next.

"We try to get in and out as quickly as possible so that people can start to get on with their lives," Keema said. "We also stress confidentiality when we are cleaning."

Sometimes the crime scenes can be extremely gruesome, but Keema says his crew blocks out what they are cleaning up and gets the job done.

"Many times we go in, and we don't know exactly what happened at the scene so that makes it a little easier," Keema said. "All the people on my crews are in some kind of law enforcement, so they've seen crime scenes before, and that helps in not taking what you see home with you."