Fire-damaged grandstand to be replaced

Press, 24 January 1984, Page 2

Fire-damaged grandstand to be replaced

PA Napier The Mayor of Napier, Mr Dave Prebensen, said yesterday that a new stand will be built at McLean Park to replace the 58-year-old Harris stand, extensively damaged in an early morning fire on Sunday. Insurance investigators were still assessing the extent of the damage yesterday morning. For more than an hour, 40 firemen fought the blaze, the second involving Napier City Council property within a month. Samples of debris taken from what is believed to be the seat of the fire in the St John Ambulance room in the centre of the stand have been sent to the D.S.I.R. for analysis, to establish if any accelerants were used. The Napier Amateur Ath-

letic and Cycling Club lost $19,000 worth of equipment and records stored under the stand and the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation’s commentary box over the stand was almost destroyed in the blaze. Mr Prebensen said that it was unlikely the stand would be repaired. About 50 to 60 per cent of the stand, insured for a replacement value of $590,000 was structurally damaged in the blaze. Mr Prebensen said that it would be too costly to rebuild the damaged area and even it if were repaired it would not come up to modern requirements. He said that the stand was in a very dangerous state at the moment and could not be used by anyone.