Contractors move quickly to demolish fire-damaged chapel
Demolition contractors in Wales have moved quickly to take down the remains of a 19th-century chapel in Swansea, after an enormous fire left it in a very dangerous state on the weekend.
The Libanus Chapel in Cwmbwrla was set alight in a suspected arson attack in the early hours of Saturday morning. The blaze took hold of the whole building, requiring 10 fire engines and more than 50 fire fighters to be summoned to the scene to tackle the inferno.
Demolition of the remains of the chapel had already begun by Sunday afternoon, with its prominent façade among the first parts of it to be taken down.
The leader of Swansea City Council, Chris Holley, said that the chapel was a highly recognisable building on one of the major routes into the city, and would be much missed by many people.
"[The demolition] was a decision made for the safety of the public,” he said. “It was not a pleasant decision to have to make, but a necessary one. There will be those who will argue we could have done this or done that to save it, but at the end of the day it was a decision that had to be made.”
