AMADOR COUNTY, Calif. — A beloved historic building was destroyed in an early morning fire Friday, and people in Sutter Creek are devastated to see it gone.
The Sutter Creek Fire Protection District says the fire started around 1 a.m. and shut down a stretch of Main Street between Randolph Street and Hanford for most of the day.
Several onlookers stood in disbelief Friday afternoon while seeing the aftermath of the fire. The building was formerly known as the Sutter Greek Restaurant.
"We were sleeping, we heard a big boom, I looked out like across the room. One window was totally yellow and flashing. I'm going, 'That isn't right,' I walked over, I looked out the window and the entire building was in flames. [I've] never seen anything like that before in my life," said David Jewell.
Jewell is in town for a car show and says he was staying in a nearby building that was evacuated.
The city manager says the loss of the building is a big hit for the small community of Sutter Creek because they are known for being a tourist destination.
"It's been a restaurant, different restaurants over the years. Most recently it was Sutter Greek. The restaurant had actually closed. It was for sale, so it wasn't actively being used. Before that it had been a place called the Palace, which was kind of a fine dining establishment," said Sutter Creek city manager Tom DuBois.
He says the building was well over a 100-years-old.
The owner respectfully declined to speak with ABC10 on camera, but says a woman who was living upstairs made it out unharmed and no one was injured.
Sutter Creek police say the cause of the fire is unknown and the investigation is a joint effort between multiple agencies.
Fire Chief Dominic Moreno says they were able to save surrounding buildings.
"If you look at this building here, you can see all the paint blistered on the side of this building too, so basically it was that hot where if we hadn't got here and started putting water, we might had another building on fire," he said.
Moreno says he has fond memories of visiting the place with his grandparents and he hopes they rebuild it to the way it was.
"[I] always tell people this downtown is our Disneyland ... it's like coming through the gate at Disneyland. You walk in here, time slows down, things get a little nicer, quieter and stuff like that, so yes we hope it gets rebuilt the way it was," said Moreno.
Officials say this weekend's car show planned for Main Street is still happening.
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