An accidental fire destroyed the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences on October 5^th.

The demolition of the remainder of the building begins today, but not as you might think.

The word demolition begins to mind bulldozers and wrecking balls but David McAfee with DT Specialized Services told KRMG news that isn't the first order of business.

“Making sure the building is safe for the abatement contractor to get in” is the first priority McAfee told us as we stood outside the school.

McAfee said the big guns will most likely roll in later in the week, but there are some hazardous materials to be dealt with first.

The building had some asbestos, but it avoided most of the damage.

“Most of the asbestos pipe insulation is in the same condition it was when the kids were going to school here, it’s not in a damaged condition,” McAfee began.

To listen to the entire interview with David, click here.

But there is one small area the crew will have a harder job.

“The pipes that were underneath the floor where they burnt, they fell down on top of it and they squashed it,” David explained. “Now it’s become mixed in with all the other materials so what has to happen down there is we’re going to load all of that out,” he pointed out. “We’ll consider all of that contaminated materials."

McAfee says once the abatement is finished they’ll level the remaining shell leaving only a parking lot.

McAfee told KRMG news he expects a total demo time of about 40 days.

Below is the original release from TPS about the destruction of the building.

TULSA, Okla. – Last evening the Board of Education for Tulsa Public Schools approved the hiring of a clean-up company to begin demolition of the fire-ravaged Barnard property, with work scheduled to begin on Oct. 8, 2012.  The property is considered extremely hazardous and Tulsa citizens and neighbors are urged to stay away from the building remains due to the presence of asbestos and the precarious nature of the structure.  The clean-up and disposal process is expected to take 30-45 days to complete.

DT Specialized Services, Inc. (DTSS) has been hired to perform the demolition and clean-up of the Barnard site. They were awarded the bid after an expedited selection process due to Oklahoma state law that allows public schools to forgo the typical competitive bidding process after an emergency declaration by the TPS school board on Sept. 17.

“Barnard is an extremely unsafe environment at this time, and we want to respond quickly out of respect for our neighbors,” said Dr. Keith Ballard, TPS Superintendent.  “Due to the presence of asbestos, DT will be following best practices in the careful tear-down and clean-up of the structure. Our goal is to communicate with our neighbors and keep them informed of the work being done on the property.  Beginning today, we will be visiting residents of the neighborhood and sharing information with them.  At this time, we have not yet made a recommendation to the board on what we will ultimately do with the property.  We expect to make that decision sometime in November. It is critical, however, that we proceed with the clean-up of the Barnard property.”

DTSS and its subcontractors follow all safety standards as determined by the Oklahoma Department of Labor, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, the National Emissions Standard for Hazardous Materials, OSHA and the EPA. The asbestos abatement will be performed by Asbestos Handlers Inc., a well-established local contractor specializing in hazard remediation. The northeast portion of the structure has been compromised to the extent that the asbestos-containing materials have comingled with the other building components. This portion will be remediated using controlled, wet demolition and be exported to an approved landfill. The remainder of the building, which is the vast majority of the project, will be abated and cleared of hazardous material prior to any structural demolition.

Upon commencement of demolition, DTSS will use its knowledge and experience to expediently return the site to a safe and useable condition. The company’s past experience includes many projects requiring sensitivity to neighborhood concerns, including the successful demolition of the Camelot Hotel, the BOK Arena site and the Downtowner Hotel.  These demolition/cleanup projects were completed with little or no impact on the surrounding residents. All demolished building materials will be segregated and shipped separately to ensure that the maximum amount of recyclable material is kept out of landfills. Based on this practice, DTSS estimates that this project will result in less than 12 percent of total debris going into landfills. In order to minimize any potential inconvenience on local residents, the estimated 250-plus truckloads will be on controlled routes on and off site, to and from major arterial streets and highways, with limited use of side streets.

Security will be posted on-site at Barnard to ensure public safety. For questions, residents may contact info@tulsaschools.org or they may call the Tulsa Public Schools Campus Police Department at 918-749-9966.

The Barnard building, most recently home to the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences (TSAS), burned to the ground in an early morning fire on Sept. 5.  By the next day, TSAS students had already been relocated by TPS to the former Sequoyah building at 3441 E. Archer St.