Pony expresso mariposa ca coffee club1/18/2024 He said firefighting efforts were hampered by assorted dead spaces between the roof and the ceiling, which fed the flames. “It was one big, continuous building that had been added onto and remodeled many times over the years,” Christopherson said. It was constructed in the early 1920s, and it was owned by Willey’s family. Firefighters used water judiciously to minimize sediment runoff into a nearby stream, and they did not expect the fire to be fully extinguished until today.Ĭalifornia Highway 140 was detoured around the fire Friday night, and that stretch of highway - frequented by Yosemite National Park visitors - wasn’t reopened until Saturday afternoon.Ībout 75 firefighters from Mariposa, Madera and Merced counties and Cal Fire teamed up to stop the flames from spreading to the nearby Mariposa Christian Fellowship Church and elsewhere.Īll the destroyed businesses were in an approximately 9,000-square-foot building at the corner of Highway 140 and Fifth Street. Investigators were looking into exactly where or how the fire began as the rubble continued to smolder Saturday afternoon. The building was so old, it went up fast.”Įveryone escaped safely, and the crowd watched helplessly as flames spread from one shop to the next. “We ripped the wall down trying to put (the fire) out, but it got into the attic. “It was standing-room only with about 80 people in there,” said Luke Willey, co-owner of the Mariposa Pizza Factory. “The Pizza Factory was one of the community’s cornerstone businesses.” He said the inferno will be a financial blow for the town. “This is probably the most devastating fire they’ve had in Mariposa in over 30 years,” said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Battalion Chief Chris Christopherson. The blaze that started Friday evening caused an estimated $1 million in structural damage, but the economic loss will be greater for this historic foothill town. MARIPOSA - Seven downtown businesses burned to the ground this weekend, ripping a costly chunk out of the town’s economy and putting several dozen people out of work.
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