Virginia Beach pays $500,000 to clean mass shooting site. Experts say that indicates scope of tragedy.

VIRGINIA BEACH

Most people would have a hard time imagining a job more awful than cleaning up Building 2 in the city's Municipal Center after the region's worst mass shooting took place there.

Belfor, a worldwide property restoration company with a branch in Chesapeake, did the work, receiving a $500,000 no-bid contract to clean up and decontaminate the crime scene after FBI and police finished collecting evidence.

The company declined to comment on the contract or the task, saying through a spokeswoman that the matter is too sensitive to discuss. The May 31 workplace rampage left 13 people dead, including the gunman, and four wounded.

At half a million dollars, Belfor's contract is more than twice the price charged by a Las Vegas company in 2017 to clean up after a gunman firing from a high-rise hotel killed 58 and wounded hundreds in a 15-acre concert field near the MGM Grand.

The price of Belfor's contract, say those in the aftermath industry, is an indication of the severity of the Virginia Beach crime scene. Indoors. Multiple floors. Close range.

Julie Hill, a city spokeswoman, said Belfor got the contract because the company already has one with the state for fire and water damage cleanup. Since Belfor also offers trauma and crime scene remediation, the city followed an avenue of state law that allows localities to "tag on to" existing contracts without issuing the customary request for bids.

In the agreement, Belfor estimated the job would require 20 straight days of nine-hour shifts, with work beginning June 13 and completed by July 1.

"Judging by the reaction of people who have gone through the building and had been in it that day," Hill said, "the work was well done."

It's hard to say how many other companies could have handled the scope of the undertaking. Trauma and crime scene clean-up is an unregulated profession in Virginia — only two states require special training or permitting.

That makes it difficult to assess the ranks of an industry that largely evolved from the carpet and upholstery cleaning business.

Alan Cohen owns Bio SoCal, a company that did the cleanup after 13 people were killed last year at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

"Too many of the people out there doing this are untrained and unprepared," Cohen said. "They're either a franchise of some big company whose work is 95 percent water, fire, mold and asbestos, or they're a couple of guys who can get into it because of the lack of regulations."

Cohen said Bio SoCal focuses on trauma, crime, decomposition and hoarder clean-up — "we stay in our lane" — and his technicians are trained and credentialed by a trade organization that's referred to as the IICRC, the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification.

But while an IICRC stamp is considered the gold standard, it's not required to do business. Nor is it mandatory for operators to follow protocols the organization set a few years ago for such cleanups.

"The biggest challenge facing the industry is that there are no national standards or licensing," Cohen said. "This is specialized work, full of biohazards. It has to be done properly for the sake of the people doing it and those who'll come in behind us."

Larry Cooper, a past president of IICRC, said property restoration and cleaning companies started offering trauma and crime scene services because "of demand."

"The phone starts ringing and you have to decide if you want to get involved."

The reality is, someone has to suit up in protective gear and deal with the ugly residue of suicides, murders, unattended deaths, mass casualties.

They have to craft a plan for an orderly decontamination. Tear out ruined carpet and drywall. Haul out spattered desks and chairs. Store or dispose of it all properly and discreetly. And keep going until every nook and cranny has been examined to ensure no trace of the nightmare remains.

"Our technicians are walking into these scenes, and some of them are horrific," Cooper said, "When I had my own company, we offered counseling to our employees every month. You have to be equipped to handle it emotionally."

After the Thousand Oaks shooting, Cohen said he personally cleaned the items left behind by victims.

"That's just how I needed to do that one because that shooting happened in my hometown," he said, "and that made it especially tough."

A pair of eyeglasses stands out in his memory. He took them to an optometrist to have the lenses removed so he could thoroughly clean the grooves in the frame.

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"Obviously the family wanted those glasses back — they were part of who that person was — and I wanted to make sure they were OK, you know?"

Hill, the Virginia Beach spokeswoman, said Belfor will initially be paid with city funds, which will be reimbursed by insurance and/or emergency assistance grants.

Building 2's future may be up in the air, but it still needed to be sanitized. Virginia Beach has discussed everything from demolition to renovation. Either way, hard hats will wind up inside.

In the meantime, the city was concerned about an already traumatized group of people: the hundreds of city workers who were forced to run for their lives that terrible day, abandoning purses, backpacks, all sorts of personal items.

Hill said the remediation was necessary before they could be brought back to collect their things:

"You can imagine why."

Joanne Kimberlin, 757-446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com