Council officials closed part of a main street in the South Island town of Fairlie earlier this week because of a severe risk of asbestos contamination. Photo: Facebook / Mackenzie District Council
A South Canterbury property extensively damaged by fire and found to contain asbestos is being treated and tested to manage the risk of it spreading, before it is demolished.
The fire broke out in the early hours of Monday morning in a commercial property that was home to a fish and chip shop on the corner of Riddle St and Talbot St in Fairlie.
A Fire and Emergency (FENZ) spokesperson said it was alerted to the fire shortly after 2am on Monday. Firefighters from Fairlie, Geraldine, Pleasant Point and Timaru attended and it took several hours for it to be fully extinguished. A fire investigator attended the scene later that day, and it was not deemed suspicious.
Civil Defence controller Chris Clarke said the council had been unable to contact the property owner despite several attempts, and the delay in accessing the site was because several legal processes had to be engaged before staff could enter the building.
Initial samples taken by the Mackenzie District Council on Thursday afternoon identified the presence of asbestos in the burnt-out building, and some had spread outside the building perimeter, which led to Civil Defence being activated.
"We were able to get some good advice from a couple of asbestos experts and public health and we put a cordon around the building within a couple of hours," Clarke said.
"The information we have from the experts is that the risk is low… exposures for short periods of time are generally not problematic."
Experts from Christchurch were doing air and swab testing for asbestos particulates on Friday morning, with the first results expected back later in the afternoon.
"We've offered all the businesses in the area that were identified as potential risk, that we will swab their floors and surfaces too. We expect they will fall well within safe levels, but better to be safe than sorry and we want to work with facts rather than speculation and testing is the way to do that."
A polymer substance would also be sprayed across the site to stop any further fibres spreading from the source.
"It essentially acts like a glue to stick those particles together so they are not at risk of being blown around in the wind, and we are now working to expedite the demolition [of the building] obviously in an appropriate controlled manner by experts."
Part of Riddle St, Talbot St and the junction with Main Street, including the children's playground and the public toilets, were cordoned off on Thursday after high winds stirred up asbestos residue. Photo: Mackenzie District Council
Part of Riddle St, Talbot St and the junction with Main Street, including the children's playground and the public toilets, were cordoned off on Thursday after high winds stirred up residue.
Clarke said FENZ had supplied sprinklers to spray water onto the site and nearby shop fronts, roads and footpaths to control the potential spread of contaminated material.
Businesses in the area remained open, and Clarke said the biggest concerns people had were about access to the public toilets on the village green, with an inspection underway to determine the level of cleaning needed before they could reopen before the weekend.
Filters were also put over drains to reduce the risk of particles entering the council's stormwater system and at the stormwater outflow to prevent asbestos entering the environment.
Asbestos is a proven human carcinogen, known to cause cancer. The main way people are exposed to asbestos is by breathing in air that contains asbestos fibres.
Clarke said anyone with concerns about the health risk could wear a mask when in the vicinity and keep their doors and windows closed.