Downtown Santa Rosa eatery damaged in blaze
Tayse Crocker goes through items to see what can be salvaged after a fire damaged the interior of Grateful Bagel/Café de Croissant, on the corner of Fourth Street and Brookwood Avenue early Thursday morning, October 8, 2009.
CHRISTOPHER CHUNG/ PDPublished: Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 7:39 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 11:51 a.m.
Steve Felando said he believes in karma. So he's wondering what he did to deserve a disastrous fire in his downtown Santa Rosa eatery Thursday.
The Grateful Bagel/Café de Croissant on Fourth Street sustained an estimated $300,000 damage in the 12:10 a.m. blaze, apparently caused by a malfunction in the automated coffee bean roaster Felando uses to supply his five cafes, fire officials said.
After a tough business year and with the comparatively lucrative cool-weather season looming, “it's so brutal,” Felando said. “It's really bad.”
The coffee and baked goods shop at Brookwood Avenue is the busiest of Felando's stores, relied upon by the kinds of folks who dashed in by the dozens early Thursday expecting to procure morning sustenance only to confront closure signs and a blackened interior.
The loss is a blow, as well, to the many homeless and needy who, throughout the year, receive free, day-old products from the “Grateful Table” Felando keeps stocked inside the downtown store.
“A lot of people are heartsick about that fire over there,” one man said as he waited Thursday outside a nearby social service agency, where many homeless people gather each morning.
Felando posted a notice on the doors of the soot-filled storefront urging those in need to visit his shops on Chanate Road and near Montgomery Village, where “we'll do our best to take care of you.”
But he's worried because so many Grateful Table regulars who live or receive services downtown are accustomed to getting something to eat nearby.
“Even with this suffering he's like, ‘We still need to help the community,'” downtown employee Tayse Crocker said of Felando.
The fire was discovered by a passerby, who called it in to emergency officials. Firefighters found flames in and around the coffee roaster, and spreading into the attic, Battalion Chief Andy Pforsich said.
The place was filled with smoke and heat, Pforsich said. Crews used chainsaws to cut open the ceiling allowing access, he said.
Though controlled within 10 minutes, the blaze caused extensive damage, reducing the interior to melted plastic, torn insulation and soot-covered surfaces with a torn “sky light” roof.
Fire Inspector Scott Moon said a smoke detector or fire sprinkler might have stemmed the spread of the fire. The shop was not equipped with either.
“It's just unbelievable to me,” Felando said, exhausted and still in shock as he moved from store-to-store conducting business Thursday. “What am I supposed to do?”
Felando's downtown roaster supplies the three Santa Rosa stores as well as two more in Sebastopol and Oakmont. He runs it at night because it's so loud.
He put in his last batch of beans around 10 p.m. Wednesday, watched it for a bit to make sure everything was running, then left for home, he said.
Though the machine had recently been running OK, he's had continuing problems with it, he said, including an occasion about seven months ago in which flames sparked internally and he was forced to roll it outside onto the sidewalk.
The company from whom he leases it replaced a part, but it's continued to have periodic problems, he said.
Matt Weisberg, general manager of Fresh Roast Systems, which leases and services the machine, said Thursday he'd not been made aware of the fire but wondered if the problem was Felando's cleaning and maintenance of the equipment.
“We have never had a fire event in the 10 or 12 years these have been in place,” Weisberg said.
Such devices are normally monitored via computer 24 hours a day by the Key Biscayne, Fla.-based company, and a laser system determines when the beans are done and the roasting terminated, Weisberg said.
But lessee's are responsible for maintaining Internet connections, as well as proper cleaning and maintenance of the roasters to ensure there aren't stray beans or other combustibles where they shouldn't be.
He also said the machines should not be used unattended, and said operators are warned in particular about periodic updates to Microsoft Windows that can lock up hardware needed to make the system work.
“I have a funny feeling that may have been what happened,” Weisberg said, noting there was a Windows update overnight. “We do know that's what happened the first time, when he melted his gasket.”
For now, Felando is worried about the financial impact on him and his 10 downtown workers.
“It was our busiest location,” he said.
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