Displaced by fire, businesses adapt
EL CENTRO — Several business owners who were displaced Monday by a downtown El Centro building fire are doing their best to adapt to their current precarious situations.
Carolyn Vigil, owner of The Chopping Block hair salon, said she and her and four co-workers have been prevented from entering the building that houses her business on account of the safety risk posed by the adjacent fire-damaged Brooks Jewelry & Gifts building.
Without being able to retrieve her supplies and equipment, Vigil said she will likely have to buy replacements in order to get back to work.
“I’m hanging in there,” Vigil said. “But so far we are out of a job this week.”
In the meantime, Vigil said she has had to reschedule her clients’ appointments but can only do so to a limited extent, since she was already booked through March.
“I have no room to keep moving clients around,” she said.
Since there’s no telling when her business may be allowed to re-open, Vigil said she may also take up two colleagues’ o ers to temporarily use a stall at their respective business locations in El Centro.
The Chopping Block is one of five businesses that occupy a Main Street building that abuts the fire-damaged Brooks Jewelry building, which is located on the northeast corner of Main and Sixth streets.
The Brooks Jewelry building’s second floor was destroyed by a three-alarm fire early Monday morning, resulting in it being red-tagged by the city.
Though the fire was contained to the building’s second floor, an adjacent lingerie business that fronts Sixth Street was also red-tagged as a result of extensive water damage.
Before the Brooks Jewelry building and the adjacent Main Street building can reopen, a structural engineer must inspect the fire-damaged building to determine the damage to its structural integrity, said Larry Bratton, building owner.
The iconic building dates back to 1912 and through the years had survived multiple earthquakes of considerable strength, providing Bratton with some hope that it can rebound from the fire.
Bratton’s utmost preference would be to rehabilitate the building, but he said he must also consider whether any potentially large investment would be financially feasible.
“My heart is in that downtown community,” he said. “All options are on the table.”
The public safety risk posed by the fire-damaged building also prompted city officials to close the 100 block of Sixth Street between Main Street and the alley. Segments of Main Street were also closed Wednesday to traffic east of Sixth Street, the El Centro Police Department reported.
The street closures were prompted by the two-story building’s potential for collapse, ECPD reported.
That potential for collapse is effectively prohibiting tenants of the impacted buildings from entering their respective business locations or having insurance adjusters assess damages.
Lonnie Main said he has not been able to conduct any business since Monday’s fire prompted the closure of his Gold & Diamond Exchange business, which is located next door to the Brooks Jewelry building in the same building that houses The Chopping Block and three other businesses.
On Wednesday, he was back at the scene of the fire awaiting a contractor to get a quote for water damage repairs to the roof of the building that houses his business.
Despite his current situation, Main appeared in good spirits and even joked that he is considering setting up a table on the sidewalk outside of his storefront to conduct business.
“We have to adapt,” he quipped. Sibling business owners Jacob and Daniel Zavala were forced to do just that, since Monday’s fire shuttered the three businesses they operated out of the ground floor of the Brooks Jewelry building.
Operations for the brothers’ El Dorado Printing company have partially resumed thanks largely to a colleague allowing the use of his Mexicali-based printing and silk screening shop.
For the moment, the Zavalas’ Stitch Factory embroidery operations remain at a standstill.
“Hopefully we’ll only be down for a month,” Jacob Zavala said. “We plan to get equipment here as soon as possible.”
The brothers behind the popular Bujwah Strangers clothing brand are also currently scouting out other potential business locations in El Centro, Zavala said.
Currently, the El Centro police and fire departments are investigating the threealarm blaze as a possible arson, officials said. A police sergeant who was first on scene the night of the blaze had reportedly observed that one of the building’s ground floor windows had been shattered, ECPD reported.
Also, a witness had reportedly told authorities that a male subject dressed in black and carrying a ladder was observed in the area at the time of the 3:30 a.m. fire, ECPD reported. The person was last seen riding a BMX-style bicycle north on Sixth Street following the incident.
Any witnesses or individuals with information are encouraged to contact El Centro Police Department Criminal Investigations Division, Detective Hernandez, at (760) 337-4525 or via email ahernandez@ecpd.org, as well as ECFD