Fire guts Penngrove Market

Fire gutted a historic building at the center of Penngrove’s tiny downtown Thursday, causing thousands of dollars in damage and displacing three small businesses.

“One minute you’re making sandwiches and joking with customers, and the next minute someone runs in and says there’s a fire behind your building,” said Tarun Guar, owner of Penngrove Market. “What can you do?”

The fire was reported behind the 133-year-old building around 5:45 p.m. after someone spotted smoke billowing from the rear.

“It went up pretty quick, man,” said Val Herrera, who had stopped in the market to get some drinks on his way to play basketball in the nearby park.

Everyone was able to evacuate the building safely, and there were no injuries reported.

The building, which faces Main Street, houses a Superburger on the north end, Penngrove Market in the middle and ?Passanisi’s Home and Garden on southern end.

The flames rapidly moved from an attached shed behind the building into the walls and attic of the wooden structure.

“Once it got into the attic, that was it,” said Ray Soper, who owned the market 35 years ago and went by after hearing it was burning. All three spaces share the attic, making the fire that got up there ?difficult to contain.

But a quick response and fast attack from Rancho Adobe firefighters, who have a station just around the corner from the market, helped contain it somewhat, said Rancho Adobe Battalion Chief Herb Wandel.

Vince Passanisi said the fire came from the shed behind his business where he stores inventory, but nothing flammable or hazardous. He said he’d gone out the rear door just a half-hour before someone alerted him to the smoke.

“We’ll be having a fire sale,” Passanisi quipped as family members helped him salvage items.

All told, about a dozen firetrucks and more than 40 personnel responded to the blaze, officials said. Departments responding included Petaluma, Gold Ridge, Rohnert Park, Wilmar and Cal Fire.

More than an hour after the fire began, firefighters continued to cut holes in the roof and rip siding off the rear of the building in an effort to fully extinguish the smoldering fire.

Even though the direct damage from flames was concentrated in the southeast corner of the building, the damage from smoke, water and firefighting meant losses could be significant, Wandel said.

The building was built in 1882 and for years was operated as the C.W. Ronsheimer General Store. After he sold his market and deli in 1980, Soper said, subsequent owners didn’t do a great job with it. But he said the current owner, Guar, had done an excellent job building the business.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.