CARTHAGE, Missouri — In the aftermath of Saturday’s devastating fire that destroyed an old lumberyard and Carthage’s first Hispanic church, city officials are clearing what could have been an unsightly and dangerous pile of debris. Firefighters were checking the hotspot because it had been moved, and the cleanup started even though it had been sitting there for weeks.
Carthage Fire Chief Ryan Huntley said the Carthage Street Department crew came early Sunday morning, less than four hours after the fire had been extinguished, to the Iglesia Christiana building at 122 Grant Street. He said he demolished the brick walls of HispanoAmericana Church. Unstable due to the heat of the conflagration.
Public Works Director Zeb Kearney and Huntley consulted with city manager Greg Dagnan and hired Lamar’s Bennett Construction Company, which happened to be working on concrete trench repairs elsewhere in Carthage, to remove the debris. decided to remove all .
“We were able to contact the owner, the minister of the church, and the owner of the old Krtek building. There’s a dangerous pile of rubble sitting there,” Dagnan said. “So we urgently hired Bennett Construction to haul out all the metal and all the rubble out there to keep our citizens safe. As a city, we worry about getting compensation later. It would be great if we had an insurance company to pay for it, otherwise it would be really best for the citizens to keep the area safe.”
Carney told Carthage City Council at its regular meeting on Tuesday that Bennett Construction has experience working with Carthage to clean up after a large fire.
On June 1, 2013, a fire destroyed a historic two-story building at 146 E. Fourth St. on the southeast corner of the square. At the time, the building was constructed in his 1880s with the Sassy Spoon restaurant and residence on the second floor. A city called Bennett Construction.
“They had staff here within 45 minutes on Sunday and another 30 minutes to have the excavator on site and push the wall,” Kearney said. He took a risk and came down and helped us out. ”
Kearney said it’s cheaper to clear the lot now than to install a chain link security fence across the block and wait for the owner to find the money and clean it up.
“There was a 50 mph wind gust on Sunday, so all the sheet metal inside the old lumber yard where the metal roof had been built years ago, and the metal of the building itself, was blown down Route 96 (Central). Avenue),” Kearney said. “We (the street department) spent about eight or nine hours on Sunday. did.
“Due to the amount of traffic and pedestrians entering caution taped areas, we have decided, from a public safety standpoint, to go ahead and start cleaning up. So we have contacted both property owners. and started cleaning it up on Monday. Drive past and the old lumber yard is gone.”
Bennett Construction foreman Matt Hannah, who is in charge of the cleanup, said it would definitely be done by the end of the week.
He said scrap metal is separated from other debris and sent for recycling. , had been taken to the Lamar landfill.
“This is not a big deal for us,” Hannah said. “Usually we don’t do this much. We already had a machine here, so it wasn’t difficult.”
Hannah’s crew also placed rows of “sock filters” on sidewalks on the north and east sides of the site to filter rainwater runoff from the rubble pile and prevent ash and other debris from entering the stormwater system. I got it.
At Tuesday’s meeting, council members said the Carthaginian Fire Department and firefighters from other communities should help each other to contain the fire in already burning buildings and prevent the fire from spreading to homes and businesses north of Central Avenue. I appreciate what you have provided.
