Ventura County Fire Department Battalion Chief Gary Hart, a Santa Paula resident, explained several aspects of the firefight that brought more than 60 firefighters and support personnel from throughout Ventura County. “We’re estimating structural damage of $300,000 to $400,000,” and the same range for contents, SPFD Asst. Chief Kevin Fildes said Thursday morning.Most of the fire was contained to the attic, but it did spread to several third-floor rooms. The southern end of the second floor below the main fire area received smoke and water damage, but there was minimal smoke damage to the first floor. There was water damage to the ground floor, including Avenue X – located in the southern end of the building - which was holding its first Winemakers Dinner Wednesday evening, an event that had sold out.“The first floor and the second floor should be an easy fix, but the third floor” will require much work, noted Asst. Chief Fildes. A structural engineer will have to assess the damages, but Glen Tavern Inn owners Tom and Rosanna Jennet, who were out of state Wednesday, “have already contacted their insurance companies and restoration clean up crews to get them back up and running.”The cause of the fire is still under investigation; witnesses are being interviewed and surveillance tapes near the origin of the fire examined, added Asst. Chief Fildes. “We’re not saying at this point that it was anything suspicious,” but investigators found “electrical extension cords, cigarette butts and rags” in the area outside the Inn where the fire started.“It’s a tragedy, but the good thing is that the Inn is still here,” with a strong contributing factor the installation of the sprinkler system several years ago. Although the Inn is now shut down, “We’re all hoping for the best,” a quick reopening of the Inn and Avenue X.“We’ll be back soon,” said Toedtli, standing about 100-feet away from Avenue X owner Richard Hyman, who was too upset to speak. “This is a loss from which we’ll recover. Avenue X will be all right.”Firefighters cleared the scene at 2:30 a.m.
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The fire broke out on the south side of the Glen Tavern Inn about 1:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Fire sprinklers and the fire departments from various agencies were able to halt the fire and keep the damage basically to the south side of the building. Water and smoke damage occurred throughout the building. Firefighters had to climb on top of the steep roof at the Glen Tavern Inn to ventilate smoke through the roof. As seen, the fire had already entered the attic of the building and was threatening to engulf the entire building. Photos by Don Johnson & Brian D. Wilson |
Glen Tavern Inn sustains major damage in fire
April 21, 2006
Attic, third floor of historic hotel severely damaged by fire
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesSanta Paula’s Glen Tavern Inn, the famous hotel that over almost a century has hosted an array of characters, ranging from celebrities to badmen and even ghosts, was severely damaged by a fire that broke out behind the three-story building midday Wednesday. Estimated damages to the Tudor-Craftsman Inn, built in 1911 and a state designated landmark, have not been finalized, but structural and content damage could be as much as $800,000 according to a Santa Paula Fire Department official.One SPFD firefighter was treated and released from a Ventura hospital after suffering heat exhaustion and dehydration. The fast-moving fire forced the evacuation of the hotel, including diners at Avenue X, the new upscale restaurant that had recently opened at the Inn.The fire appeared to have started outside the rear of the historic building near the south end, and quickly spread up the outside wall. Carlos Argueta, an Avenue X employee, saw smoke when he glanced out back at about 1 p.m. “I told the dishwasher to get out of the kitchen, and when I opened the back door I saw flames creeping up the side” of the wood-shingled building.Argueta spread the word throughout the hotel, making sure that all Avenue X employees, dining patrons and guests were notified. Argueta also kicked in several doors on the third floor to awaken late sleepers so they could evacuate.Santa Paula Times publisher Don Johnson, whose office is less than a block from the Inn, arrived at the Inn and urged people milling in the lobby to leave the building.While Argueta was evacuating the Inn, Jean Claude Toedtli, an Avenue X chef, and Richard Ybarra, an Inn guest, grabbed garden hoses and tried to put out the fire as it moved into the eaves and attic. “If we’d been two minutes earlier we might have put it out,” noted Ybarra.The gala birthday luncheon for 80-year-old Ming Wan being held in Avenue X came to a stop when “They told us very quietly that there was a fire and to leave,” said May Caldwell. “…And we left.”“Flames were coming from the roof,” said Nadine Lamanno, who was working across the street at First United Methodist Church.Bob Gonzales, who with his wife Carolyn operated a restaurant in the Glen Tavern Inn in the mid-1990s, was among the hundreds of spectators that gathered to watch the firefight. “It’s awful, it’s been here all my life,” said Gonzales. “I’d see it when I walked to school… I grew up with the Inn.”
