The fire on January 17, 2021 caused significant damage to the abandoned structure. Firefighters remained at scene until 1300hrs to assist fire investigators and extinguish hot spots within the debris of the collapsed building.
Fire investigators have ruled the cause of the fire to be undetermined. The fire appears to be human caused with indicators pointing to the fire starting in the rear (freeway side) of the building in the area of a stairwell at ground level. The fire has been burning for sometime prior to detection resulting in the building being 25% involved upon arrival of the first arriving resources at 04:49 am.
The property owner will be working to secure and remove the debris.
Original release on Jan. 17:
At approximately 0443 Sunday morning firefighters responded to a three alarm, commercial structure fire that ignited in the 2000 block of Nevada City Hwy. Upon arrival personnel found a vacant, 15,000 sq. ft. structure with about 25% involvement.
Initial fire attack included units and personnel from Grass Valley, Nevada City, Nevada County Consolidated, CalFire, Penn Valley, Ophir Hill, Rough and Ready and Peardale-Chicago Park fire departments. The third alarm brought in resources from Yuba City, Auburn and Placer County Fire. These additional units were used at the fire scene and to cover stations and respond to any new incidents.
The fire is currently contained to the building of origin. Once the fire is fully extinguished, firefighters will conduct a thorough search of the building for and possible victims. Investigators are also at scene and will be working to determine the cause of the blaze.