Carvers' demolition to start as crews leave site

Demolition of the fire-ravaged Carvers Building Supplies' Wolverhampton premises can now begin after firefighters left the site for the final time.

Crews of firefighters had been returning to the Little's Lane business every three hours over the weekend to carry out checks and damp down the site following the blaze.

But after using thermal imaging cameras, all hot spots in the charred wreckage have now cooled down.

Station commander Dean Harris, from Cradley Heath station, confirmed that investigations were still ongoing into the exact cause of the devastating blaze on Wednesday.

He said: "The incident has now closed and we've handed it back to Carvers. All the fire is now out. If the demolition crews find pockets of fire then we will go back to put them out. We used a thermal image camera to see if there were any hot spots and there were none."

Huge plumes of smoke and 20ft flames could be seen for miles around last week, as hundreds of students, families in nearby homes, businesses and a school were evacuated.

Staff at the 116-year-old builders merchant are handling orders from the company's second site, which is based in Neachells Lane, Wednesfield. Around 150 of the company's 200 jobs still hang in the balance after staff were told to go home while managing director Henry Carver awaited assessments by insurers.

Mr Carver said: "We hope to start the demolition as soon as possible although it lies with the insurers over when we can start. We are here to fight another day and here to survive."

Despite the fire, company bosses are still throwing their weight behind the annual Carver Wolverhampton City Marathon this year. A launch event for the ann-ual run, which takes place in September, was being held today in the Mayor's Parlour based at the Civic Centre.