Fire damages Santa Rosa office, artwork

<p>Fire broke out late Monday night at a Santa Rosa office used by a local painter to store his works, a Santa Rosa fire official said.</p><p>Fire and PG&E investigators Tuesday were looking into the cause, which initially appeared to be accidental and possibly electrical, Capt. David Cornelssen said.</p><p>The artist, whose name wasn't immediately available, had paintings and lithographs of musical legends including Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.</p><p>“He had much of his artwork he had just done stored there,” Cornelssen said. “He lost a lot of it.”</p><p>One truck of firefighters initially went out at about 11:10 p.m. to check on a Sonoma Highway building with a possible electrical problem.</p><p>They found the office, near Brush Creek Road, full of smoke and called for more help.</p><p>Firefighters held the flames to the office. Cornelssen estimated $10,000 in damage occurred to the building and $60,000 in damage to the contents.</p><p>“We're currently working with PG&E on the electrical part of it. Several residents nearby were all having electrical difficulties before the fire started,” he said.</p><p>Firefighters were at the fire for about two hours.</p>