Historic building on Sutter Creek’s Main Street destroyed in fire

WHEN IT IS. BRIAN. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. NOW WE WANT TO GET TO SOME BREAKING NEWS IN AMADOR COUNTY. AN INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY AFTER A HISTORIC BUILDING CAUGHT FIRE. THIS IS ON MAIN STREET IN DOWNTOWN SUTTER CREEK. LET’S GET TO KCRA 3’S. MIKE TESELLE. WHO JUST ARRIVED. MIKE, DESCRIBE WHAT EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE AT THIS POINT. WELL, WE’RE STANDING RIGHT ON MAIN STREET, MIKE, AND I’LL LET THE SCENE SPEAK FOR ITSELF. THIS IS THE SUTTER GREEK RESTAURANT BUILDING. IF YOU’RE FAMILIAR WITH SUTTER CREEK HERE ON MAIN STREET. AND THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE THIS MORNING, THE AFTERMATH. WE ALSO HAVE A PICTURE THAT WAS POSTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA THIS MORNING SHOWING THE FLAMES AS THIS BUILDING WAS ON FIRE THIS MORNING. THIS ALL HAPPENED AROUND 1 A.M. CHIEF MORENO WITH THE SUTTER CREEK FIRE DEPARTMENT HERE. AND CHIEF, WHEN YOU GOT HERE, DESCRIBE WHAT THE SCENE WAS. SO WE HAD UPON ARRIVAL, WE HAD A FULLY INVOLVED SECOND STORY AND WITH THE EXTENSION ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE BUILDING. SO CREWS TOOK INITIAL ATTACK OFF OF MAIN STREET HERE, PULLED LARGE DIAMETER LINES BASICALLY TO TRY TO COOL THE FIRE DOWN TO LIMIT EXPOSURES ON EACH SIDE OF IT. SO ONCE WE GET THAT IN, THEN BASICALLY WE CONFIRMED WE HAD NO RESCUE SITUATION. THE LONE OCCUPANT SELF GOT THEMSELVES OUT OF THE BUILDING. WE THEN BASICALLY WENT IN AND BASICALLY PUT THE FIRE OUT LITTLE BY LITTLE. WE HAD A LITTLE CRANNIES. WE HAD TO WORK INTO AND STUFF, BUT WE WERE ABLE TO CATCH THE FIRE AND PUT IT ALL OUT. YEAH. GIVEN THIS MAIN STREET, A LOT OF PEOPLE COME DOWN HERE, KNOW THIS IS A LOT OF OLD BUILDINGS, A LOT OF BUILDINGS THAT ARE READY TO BURN, BUILT OF WOOD. YOU WERE ABLE, THOUGH, TO CONTAIN THIS FIRE JUST AT THIS RESTAURANT BUILDING, CORRECT? YES. FOR A COUPLE REASONS. ONE IS BACK IN THE OLD DAYS, EVERYTHING WAS WOOD AND YOU’D LOSE A WHOLE BLOCK. WELL, OVER TIME THEY SAID, HEY, IF WE PUT SOME CEMENT WALLS UP, MAYBE IT’LL STOP THE SPREAD OF FIRE. SO THE NEXT BUILDING OVER, WE DID GET SMOKE INTO THE ATTIC AREA, BUT THE ACTUAL FIRE WALL STOPPED IT FROM SPREADING DOWN THE BLOCK. SO THAT WAS VERY HELPFUL FOR US. AND I KNOW YOU DON’T HAVE AN EXACT DATE, BUT YOU WERE MENTIONING DATING BACK. HOW FAR BACK DO YOU THINK THIS BUILDING DID? PROBABLY LATE 1800S. EARLY 1900S. SO IT’S A PRETTY OLD BUILDING FOR OUR TOWN. SO HOPEFULLY, YOU KNOW, THE OWNER COMES IN AND REBUILDS IT BACK TO WHAT IT WAS. SO IT HAS THE SAME CHARM. I ALWAYS TALK ABOUT HOW THIS IS OUR DISNEYLAND. YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU WALK IN DISNEYLAND, MAIN STREET, THIS IS OUR DISNEYLAND MAIN STREET. SO HOPEFULLY WE GET IT BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS LOOKED BEFORE. AND THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME YOU’VE HAD A FIRE HERE. I MEAN, YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO REBUILD, RIGHT? YES. SO WE’VE HAD MULTIPLE YEARS WHERE WE’VE LOST BLOCKS OF THE TOWN AND STUFF LIKE THAT, A LITTLE HISTORY. WE USED TO BE CALLED THE SUTTER CREEK HOOK LADDER AND BUCKET COMPANY PRIOR TO 1906, AND PART OF IT WAS THE HOOKS WERE TO PULL BUILDINGS DOWN, NOT THE FIRE BUILDINGS, THE BUILDINGS NEXT TO IT. SO YOU WOULDN’T LOSE A WHOLE BLOCK. AND THEN YOU HAD THE BUCKETS FOR THE WATER AND OBVIOUSLY LADDERS TO GET ON IT. SO AND THEN WE CHANGED IT TO THE FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT. BUT A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY WITH THE HOOKS AND THE LADDERS AND STUFF. CHIEF MARINO, THANKS SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO JOIN US HERE. THIS MORNING. AND AGAIN, IF YOU ARE DOWN IN SUTTER CREEK TODAY, JUST BE AWARE, MAIN STREET BLOCKED OFF RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THEY GOT SOME WORK TO DO TO DEAL WITH THE AFTERMATH OF THIS FIRE. AND THEN ALSO THE INVESTIGATION TO TRY AND FIGURE OUT WHAT CAUSED IT AT THIS POINT IN TIME, CHIEF WAS SAYING THEY BELIEVE IT STARTED IN THE BACK. BUT AS FAR AS AN EXACT CAUSE, THAT’S SOMETHING THAT’S GOING TO BE UNDER INVESTIGATION.

Historic building on Sutter Creek’s Main Street destroyed in fire

Updated: 8:12 AM PDT Oct 11, 2024

A historic wooden building in Amador County was destroyed early Friday morning by a fire, officials say. The property was home to the family-owned Sutter Greek Restaurant. Fire crews were dispatched around 1 a.m. to the property on Main Street in Sutter Creek. The second-story blaze was under control by 3:10 a.m., the Sutter Creek Police Department said. It was contained and did not spread to any nearby buildings. A person living on the second floor safely exited the building, the Sutter Creek Fire Protection District said. No injuries have been reported at this time. Sutter Creek fire chief Dominic Moreno estimates the structure was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. He hopes the owners will rebuild it with “the same charm.” “This is our Disneyland Main Street,” Moreno said. “Hopefully, we get it back to the way it was, the way it looked before.” “It’s tragic when we lose any of our old buildings,” Mayor Claire Gunselman said. But she called it a “miracle” that crews contained the fire just to one building since many of the old structures there are “literally stuck together.” She said the restaurant was formerly called the Sutter Creek Palace when she was growing up and has been a staple in the community through its different iterations.Main Street was closed between Randolph Street and Hanford, Sutter Creek police said. No estimated time for when the roadway will fully reopen was given. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Sutter Creek fire said. The source appears to have been a meat smoker used for another restaurant down the street, which was slightly damaged. This story was curated by Hearst’s KCRA Alert Desk.Sharing brings us closer together. If this story happened near you, share this article with friends in your area using the KCRA mobile app so they can read along with you. The KCRA app is available for free in Apple’s App Store and on Google Play.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter

SUTTER CREEK, Calif. —

A historic wooden building in Amador County was destroyed early Friday morning by a fire, officials say. The property was home to the family-owned Sutter Greek Restaurant.

Fire crews were dispatched around 1 a.m. to the property on Main Street in Sutter Creek. The second-story blaze was under control by 3:10 a.m., the Sutter Creek Police Department said. It was contained and did not spread to any nearby buildings.

A person living on the second floor safely exited the building, the Sutter Creek Fire Protection District said. No injuries have been reported at this time.

Sutter Creek fire chief Dominic Moreno estimates the structure was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. He hopes the owners will rebuild it with “the same charm.”

“This is our Disneyland Main Street,” Moreno said. “Hopefully, we get it back to the way it was, the way it looked before.”

“It’s tragic when we lose any of our old buildings,” Mayor Claire Gunselman said. But she called it a “miracle” that crews contained the fire just to one building since many of the old structures there are “literally stuck together.”

She said the restaurant was formerly called the Sutter Creek Palace when she was growing up and has been a staple in the community through its different iterations.

Main Street was closed between Randolph Street and Hanford, Sutter Creek police said. No estimated time for when the roadway will fully reopen was given.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Sutter Creek fire said. The source appears to have been a meat smoker used for another restaurant down the street, which was slightly damaged.

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This story was curated by Hearst’s KCRA Alert Desk.

Sharing brings us closer together. If this story happened near you, share this article with friends in your area using the KCRA mobile app so they can read along with you. The KCRA app is available for free in Apple’s App Store and on Google Play.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter