Pro tip: I was wrong about always needing a gas mask in the old Westgate Mall

A security guard who used to work there saw my gear and said, 'Kid, the air's fine, you're just scaring the pigeons.' Has anyone else had a local give you better advice than any online guide?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomasm1518d ago

Last year in St. Louis I bought a $40 water testing kit for an old factory site. A guy walking his dog just laughed and said the city cleaned that soil up a decade ago, told me to save my money. He was totally right, the report came back clean.

blair2488d ago

Sounds like that guy saved you forty bucks and a whole lot of worry. Some local knowledge beats a product box every time. We get sold fear more than we get sold solutions.

caseyc7818d ago

Honestly, I wonder how much gear is overkill. I see people with full respirators for a slightly dusty old office building. A local shopkeeper told me last month that the water in his neighborhood was fine to wash with, despite what my filter pamphlet said. Sometimes we get so caught up in prepping we miss the actual reality on the ground.