Fire
is expected to make a full recovery.
The Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department was the first to arrive onscene, and requested both a ground ambulance and an air ambulance. It also noted the fire had already spread from the vehicle to a metal warehouse on the property.
CAL Fire Chief David Latoof coordinated bucket drops from a CAL Fire helicopter. However, firefighters soon moved to merely prevent the fire from spreading to the surrounding grass and vegetation rather than trying to eliminate the structure fire, which was past saving.
Comptche Fire, Fort Bragg Fire, Albion and Little River Fire, Elk Fire, and five CAL Fire engines and a helicopter totaled nearly 50 personnel and 60,000 gallons of water, but the home and workshop were lost.
Fuente hosted an exhi bit , “New World Hoarder,” at the Mendocino Art Center Gallery from August through September 2019.
The six- week exhibit, like his other famous work, centered on the intricate ornamentation he achieved by “assemblage sculpture.”
Fuente is also well known for his 1960 “Mad Cad” Cadillac. Firefighters were able to save the car from the fire or damage. The car took Fuente five years to cover in over 1,000,000 beads and baubles. The ornate Cadillac has been called historically significant to the community, and is usually a prominent feature of the Mendocino Fourth of July Parade.
His 1988 sculpture, “Game Fish,” is in permanent display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery.
Fire investigators have not yet said what exactly started the fire.