A raging fire burned Healdsburg’s downtown post office, leaving
just charred remains and the skeleton of an old building Saturday
evening.
Hundreds of residents and tourists stopped and watched
firefighters from 11 departments battle the blaze, keeping it
confined to the corner lot and saving nearby businesses, including
North Coast Bank, which was spared from the fire but did suffer
some heat and water damage.
Arson was ruled out as a cause of the fire during investigations
Sunday, led by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The cause of the fire went undetermined because of the amount of
damage to the inside of the building.
“The fire began in a concealed space in the attic and because of
the stout construction of the building, the fire spread quickly,”
acting Fire Chief Steve Adams said.
Dark black smoke from the fire, which was spotted by passersby
just after 5 p.m. Saturday was billowing from the Center Street
building as firefighters arrived.
“Smoke was coming out from the seams of the roof,” said
Cloverdale resident Briana Herpst, who was driving past the post
office and called emergency dispatchers. Herpst circled the block
and by the time she returned, smoke was filling the sky above the
building and emergency responders had just arrived.
Flames poured from the roof of the post office, through the
attic and raged inside the building while firefighters entered in
an offensive battle against the fire.
“It was deep-seeded for quite some time,” Adams said. Adams said
by the time smoke was seen on the outside of the building, the fire
had an opportunity to make its way through the building in the
attic.
“We knew with the construction of the building, there was going
to be a lot of heavy timber, which made it very difficult to access
the fire in the attic,” he said.
The firefighters began to fight the fire from the inside of the
building, from the bottom up. Firefighters also took positions on
the arch truss roof cutting holes to ventilate and to prevent the
horizontal spread of the fire, Adams said.
Two Windsor Firefigheres, Chad Giordani and Tom Rathbun were
injured battling the fire when their ladder fell. Rathbun suffered
minor injuries and was released from the ER on Saturday. Giordani
suffered a moderate back injury and spent several nights in the
hospital.
According to Windsor Fire Chief Ron Collier, the two men were
attempting to penetrate the ceiling of the building to get water
into the flames from the inside when something caused the ladder to
slip. He said the accident is under investigation by several
agencies.
The four-alarm fire drew firefighters from 11 departments from
Cloverdale to Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. Twenty-three engines and
two ladder trucks responded to the fire and departments from
Hopland to Petaluma covered the stations of those who were headed
to Healdsburg.
Hundreds of onlookers stood by and watched as fire crews sprayed
an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 gallons of water per minute “during the
full on defensive operation,” Adams said. Streams of water and foam
ran down Center Street. The foam, Adams said, is very effective
when fighting structure fires. “It extinguishes the fire with 50
percent less effort and 50 percent less water,” he said.
Adams attributed saving the neighboring bank largely to the use
of foam.
“It’s probably what saved that structure,” he said.
The bank was still closed Monday and Tuesday after the fire.
“Sadly, we are told the air quality inside the bank remains poor
and it is therefore unwise to expose our clients and employees,”
North Coast Bank’s Assistant Vice President Debbie Gesualdo said
Monday.
The bank was scheduled to reopen for full service Wednesday.
Healdsburg Postmaster Joe Machado said post office employees
have all been touched by the situation.
“There’s been different expressions by different people. When
you work somewhere, it can be very meaningful to you. Two of the
clerks feel a great big loss,” he said.
“The loss is great, but the most important thing to me is that
no one was in there.”
The Center Street post office was beloved by many in the
community who saw it as a common area for residents who ran into
each other daily at the downtown stop. In the spring of 2008, then
Postmaster Randy Fetter nearly closed the downtown location in
favor of the newer Foss Creek Circle post office. But, pressure
from local residents swayed the postal officials to keep both in
town.
Many of those same residents are fighting again to attempt to
have the post office rebuild or open up a storefront location
somewhere downtown.
“People are really interested in the idea of retaining postal
service downtown,” said Healdsburg resident and newspaper columnist
Ray Holley. Holley led the effort two years ago to keep the
downtown location and has already begun an effort to find a
permanent home for the post office downtown.
“I don’t think we should focus on finding a temporary home
downtown but I think we should focus on finding a permanent home
downtown. People really care about the facility.”
Healdsburg Mayor Jim Wood is coordinating an effort with elected
officials to meet with post office officials to find a way to keep
the post office downtown.
“I have had more input from the community on this single issue
than I have on anything,” Wood said.
Incoming fourth district county Supervisor Mike McGuire said
he’d like to see the post office return downtown.
“I know Healdsburg has the will, now we need to come together
and find a way to ensure the postal service rebuilds
downtown,” McGuire said.
Machado said any decision to open a downtown post office back up
would be made by the district managers.
“For us, we can provide all of the services out of this (Foss
Creek annex) building. It was designed to replace that building
downtown,” Machado said. “Most people come here, it’s convenient
with a drive through, it’s large with an accessible dock and has
ample parking.”
The Center Street building was once a Safeway grocery store,
which opened at the corner of North and Center streets in June
1942. It operated there for 26 years. According to Holly Hoods,
Healdsburg Museum research curator, in the fall of 1968, the
grocery store building was remodeled into the new post office and
Safeway moved to the building CVS is in now. The building has
served as the Healdsburg Post Office since 1969.
The Center Street post office had a leaky roof, asbestos-laden
floor tiles and old-fashioned post office boxes. The post office
paid $100,000 a year in rent and utilities.
