Southsea nightclub to be demolished following fire
A former nightclub in the South Coast resort of Southsea is to be swiftly demolished after it was engulfed by an enormous fire yesterday (August 9).
The building that used to house Joanna's nightclub went up in flames at around 5:35pm last night. More than 80 firefighters were called on to tackle the blaze, which eventually left the building dangerously unstable and beyond repair.
Demolition contractors are currently being enlisted to take to down the remaining structure before it can pose more of a danger to the public.
Some 500 homes in the area were left without electricity when part of the burning building collapsed into an adjacent electricity sub station.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service group manager Dave Norgate said around 18 fire engines were on hand at the scene - coming from as far away as Basingstoke, Hamble and Eastleigh.
He explained that the fire had taken hold of the third and fourth floors of the building - where it is thought to have started - by the time the first engine arrived on the scene.
"This then spread above and below. We managed to stop the fire from spreading to nearby properties as we tackled the fire from all sides," he said. "The building itself has become unstable and we do expect a partial collapse. Because of that we talked to the local authority to carry out a controlled demolition as soon as possible."
