Asbestos News

Contractors in New Zealand recently began cleaning up asbestos from a house that caught fire.

Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean told Stuff.co.nz that there was "quite a bit" of the naturally occurring substance at the Allenby Terrace property, which was recently damaged by a fire.

The house is reportedly a century old and like many older buildings contains a significant quantity of asbestos as the material was once widely used in the construction industry as both a flame retardant and insulator.

However, it has been proven since the mid-1960s that exposure to asbestos can cause a range of serious illnesses such as malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer. Due to these risks it is essential that asbestos is properly handled and cleaned up when it is disturbed - such as in a fire.

MacLean told the news source that is not yet entirely clear what will be done with the property.

''What we are going to do is only do as much demolition as is required to keep the place safe," he said. "The council is certainly not going to spend a very large sum of money clearing the site. We'll wait for the banks and the insurers and that to sort that angle out."