Cleaning up homes with met labs growing industry

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A tall man and a slender woman wiggled into their white hazardous materials suits, putting on protective masks and gloves before venturing into the dark, two-story home where police say a methamphetamine lab recently exploded.

Gary Siebenschuh and a helper used a yellow photo ionization detector to measure for meth residue, maneuvering around debris and a hole in the roof caused by the Nov. 6 fire that injured a young child. They took wipe samples of walls, ducts, window sills and other parts of the home, later sending them to a lab to be analyzed.

"The process is extremely cumbersome but I think it's necessary," said Dick Cochran, owner of the Memphis home where a renter was charged with making meth and causing the fire and explosion. He hired Siebenschuh to inspect the property.

"You don't know how bad a house can be contaminated," Cochran said.

Tens of thousands of houses have been used as meth labs the last decade and a cottage industry is developing around cleaning them up.

There is little oversight of the growing industry in most states, however, opening the door for potential malfeasance. And some homeowners are often reluctant to pay thousands of dollars to make a property safe, so many houses simply don't get cleaned for years, exposing residents and sometimes even neighbors to harmful chemicals.