Main Street building destroyed in fire demolished

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/09/2023 (996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Main Street business destroyed by fire has been completely knocked down to rubble, although its owner says there’s still no timeline for when the property will be cleared.

Unsightly rubble initially filled the lots of three former businesses in the 800 block of Main Street, Surplus Direct, Top Pro roofing and Lord Selkirk Furniture. All were deemed total losses after a February blaze.

Following delays on work to clean up the site due to concerns about asbestos, Top Pro and Lord Selkirk were cleared for cleanup, which is now well underway.

As of Thursday, all walls of Surplus Direct had been knocked down by the city, although owner Robert McDonald said he still hadn’t worked out a deal with the provincial government to finish the cleanup.

While McDonald initially believed the city would only take down parts of the structure that extended past the first floor, he said the demolition went further.

McDonald has said Workplace Safety and Health requires him to do a “wet demolition” of the site based on concerns about asbestos, which would cost twice the $200,000 price for a standard demolition.

He said he also hired a company to conduct asbestos tests, which did not detect unsafe levels. He still wants a standard demolition process.

Due to the dispute, McDonald said he’s still not sure when the final cleanup to remove the debris will take place.

The province has said its own tests detected asbestos at the property, which must be carefully removed to reduce the risk of occupational illness and death.

City spokesman Kalen Qually confirmed a city contractor performed an emergency demolition at the site, which was completed earlier this week.

“In order to resolve the urgent safety concerns, the exterior walls and supporting structure for the building were collapsed into the centre of the property,” wrote Qually, in an emailed statement.

—Staff