[FONT=Verdana]Asbestos will delay demolition of the charred building where nine firefighters perished in a fire earlier this year. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The cancer-linked fibers found in some of the building materials has slowed the final clearing of the Sofa Super Store into early 2008, said Brandon Martin of B&B Demolition Specialists, the company hired to demolish the building.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The final clearing was originally set for completion by the end of 2007.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The June 18 blaze at the Sofa Super Store was the nation's greatest loss of firefighters since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Around 15,000 square feet of the store's building material contains asbestos, according to a permit issued by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]But an attorney for the store says the asbestos poses no hazard to the public.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]"They are taking every precaution to make sure there is no danger to the community, particularly the neighbors," said Robert Rosen.[/FONT]