LAKEPORT, Calif. – The fire that damaged a historic downtown building late last month has been traced to an electrical issue, according to the results of the fire investigation.
The Lunas building, located at the corner of Third and Main streets, caught fire early on the morning of Friday, Sept. 21.
It gutted the Penny Lane Emporium, located on the building’s first floor, and damaged some parts of the second story, where the offices of attorney and judicial candidate Michael Lunas and the Feeney & Feeney law firm were located.
Dan Copas, a Lakeport Fire Protection District firefighter and the agency’s lead investigator on the incident, said he and investigators from the insurance companies for the emporium and for Lunas, as well as two electrical engineers, completed their work on the case on Monday.
“We’ve all pretty much come to the conclusion that it is an electrical fire, but it’s an undetermined source at this point,” said Copas.
He said the building itself, which dates to the 1870s, has been ruled out at the source of the electrical issue that sparked the fire.
“It looks purely just like an accidental fire,” Copas said, adding that the blaze was not suspicious in nature.
Copas said the fire began in the center of the left front window – left to a person facing the shop from the street – but investigators were not able to trace it to an actual source.
There was a lot of electrical inside the building, and while Copas said there’s no “smoking gun,” there were paper lanterns and other lighting fixtures used for displays that could have contributed to the fire.
Lunas, whose mother and uncle own the building, was at the site on Monday while investigators were still at work.
He said he’s been working from his home since having to vacate his upstairs office.
“We’re looking for some suitable office space,” he said.
Lunas said initially he believed he and the other upstairs tenants would be displaced for a few weeks.
Now, however, he estimates it could be up to three months before they can return to the building.
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