Fire damages Santa Rosa dry cleaning business

More than two dozen firefighters worked to knock down a fire inside a north Santa Rosa dry cleaning company late Tuesday night, leaving the building too dangerous to inhabit after sustaining smoke and heat damage.

Santa Rosa firefighters battled heavy, dark smoke to contain the blaze burning in the back of the ProClean Services headquarters on Armory Drive, across from Coddingtown Mall.

Four ladder truck crew members used two chain saws to cut ventilation holes on the roof and release the thick smoke and pressure from heat that was trapped in the one-story building, Santa Rosa Battalion Chief Matthew Gloeckner said. Conditions inside were aggravated by burning garments and fallen debris from the ceiling.

ProClean owner Frank Beyer said Wednesday morning that he was “at a total loss.” He has operated the company with his wife, Veronika, for 10 years, and been at the Armory Drive location for about three years.

He hopes to reopen at a different site quickly to try and maintain his customer base, fearful that this fire could be devastating to their business.

“You can buy a machine, but the customers, if you lose them, they’re gone,” Beyer said.

The last employee left around 6 p.m. Tuesday. An investigation into the cause of the blaze is underway, but Gloeckner said it does not look suspicious since the building was locked. No one was injured, but the business sustained approximately $400,000 in damages.

Based on the heat damage and amount of charring on the roof, the business had been burning for “quite a while” before first responders arrived around midnight Wednesday morning, Gloeckner said. Police became aware of the fire after a motion sensor was triggered by the movement of the fire and burning debris inside.

Six engines, two trucks and more than 30 personnel responded to the scene.

You can reach Staff Writer Yousef Baig at 707-521-5390 or yousef.baig@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @YousefBaig.