Most of the external clean-up has been done, with some siteworks to be undertaken over the next few days, Liverpool Plains Shire Council acting general manager Ron Van Katwyk said yesterday.

“After that they’ll move indoors where they have to do an internal clean-up of a Telstra exchange, a hairdressing business and cafe,” Mr Van Katwyk said.

“The internal work could be time-consuming, and after that they will remove all the safety barricades.

“The last activity is the sign-off of a rehabilitation statement to the environmental hygienist, who has been on site during the whole process, doing air monitoring due to the asbestos contamination of the site.”

Mr Van Katwyk said he was more than happy with progress on the clean-up, which council was forced to undertake when it received no response from the building’s owner, who lives on the NSW Central Coast.

“We had advised the owner of all the quotes we obtained, along with the schedule of works, but so far we have not received any response at all from him on the matter,” he said.

“In the interests of environmental and public health, we acted as quickly as we could, so the mess doesn’t sit there for years, while we fight the fellow in court, attempting to recoup the clean-up costs.

“We’ve done everything in our power to keep the whole of the community updated on the situation, as it wasn’t just one building that was affected by the fire.”

Hair Heaven, a hairdressers owned by Cat Hewett, has been operating out of Georgie Brown’s Cottage, a coffee and gift shop, since shortly after the fire destroyed the  premises.

The Willow Tree Cafe, which was also destroyed in the blaze, has no immediate plans to reopen.