Red River Army Depot (RRAD)
This military facility was activated in 1941 and covers fifty square miles with approximately 1400 buildings. It was built to receive, store, and issue gun-motor carriages, ammunition, explosives, supplies, and equipment for combat vehicles and other types of demolition equipment and supplies for the US Army Corps of Engineers. It also has facilities for maintenance and rebuilding of combat and general purpose vehicles and other military ordnance.
Detail:
The depot was activated in 1941 after acquisition of 116 farms and ranches west of Texarkana, TX in Bowie County. It was slated for deactivation in 1995 after the findings of the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC), but remained open after the commissioners voted to keep it open for military readiness. The 2005 BRAC commission again recommended closure, but it remains open for maintenance support of the army.
Exposure Information:
Asbestos exposures at munitions plants were common in the 1940s through 1970s, including but not limited to exposures to steam line insulation, steam driven equipment, asbestos siding, and fireproofing.
Asbestos construction and fireproofing materials were largely phased out of production by the late 1970s. However, asbestos-containing materials, once in place, can remain in a work environment for years.
In 1989 and 1990, a survey was conducted at RRAD to determine asbestos materials in buildings constructed before 1976. Among asbestos items still present in 1989 was asbestos-containing material in the waterproofing of the igloos at the Red River Army Depot. The weatherproofing consisted of multiple layers of tar that contained asbestos and were then covered with earth. The igloo doors are also constructed of asbestos-containing material.