The search for “potential victims” of a Saturday, Dec. 16 fire that devastated the Terminal Building in Fairhaven will likely resume this weekend, a city official said Wednesday.
Darin MacGillivray, acting building official from the City of Bellingham, said crews must wait for special containers to arrive to dispose of asbestos-containing debris from the interior of the building.
“As soon as the containers get here, then the floor and the roof can be removed, and we can hopefully find if there’s someone in there,” MacGillivray said.
He said they hope to provide closure for the family of missing Harris Avenue Cafe owner Nathaniel Breaux as soon as possible.
The upper story wall on the front of the Terminal Building partially collapsed Wednesday, Dec. 20, as workers tried to stabilize the building to prevent a more catastrophic collapse.
Just before the collapse, MacGillivray said workers were hoping to reduce the weight on the building by removing bricks. He said there’s a lack of structural integrity inside the building, characterizing it as a “house of cards.”
The plan for the remaining brick, as the building allows, is to continue to take it down, storing materials in an empty lot in Fairhaven for possible reuse as a historical memento when and if the building is rebuilt, MacGillivray said.
The bricks don’t contain asbestos, but the interior of the building does contain some of the substance, which is a carcinogen.
MacGillivray said the interior of the building will need to be taken away and disposed of in an “asbestos-safe location.” Containers to move the asbestos are expected to arrive Saturday or Sunday, MacGillivray said.
Workers also are trying to keep the east wall of the building from collapsing. The collapsed roof and floor of the upper story are pushing into the east wall, MacGillivray said, and the construction team has been talking about shoring it and putting up bracing.
“We’re moving as fast as we can but we have to move at the speed that all conditions on the site will allow us,” MacGillivray said.
