Renovation of Fire-Damaged Strip Mall Businesses Under Way in Banning

An Escondido contractor had workers busy Tuesday preparing to renovate a strip mall building that caught fire March 30 on West Ramsey Street, leaving a religious school gutted and several businesses damaged.

Clad in "Disaster Recovery Response Team" shirts, workers for MSB Inc. worked inside a smoke shop, pizza restaurant and a market, with a senior project manager supervising.

 "We were hired by the owner, the landlord of the building," said Sheri Colvell, senior project manager with MSB Inc. of Escondido. "We are rebuilding all of the businesses here."

Some of the work Tuesday involved taking out material that burned or was damaged by heat and smoke in the ceilings and roof over the businesses.

"We're doing demolition at this point so the city building department can come in and see the amount of damage to the roof structure," Colvell said. "Then we'll move forward."

The owner of the building's insurance is paying for the restoration, Colvell said. She declined to estimate how much the rebuilding project will cost.

"We are going to spruce up this center," Colvell said. "All these tenants are very excited to get back in, up and running. And the landlord's really looking forward to making the center look better."

The corner space of the strip mall, formerly occupied by the Institute of Divine Metaphysical Research, was the only part of the building that was gutted in the fire.

Colvell said she was not sure if the the religious group planned to return.

"We're working today on the smoke shop, the pizza place and the market," Colvell said.

Tenants of the strip mall were devastated in the wake of the March 30 blaze.

The fire was reported at 2:34 a.m. that day at 1508 W. Ramsey St., Cal Fire-Beaumont Battalion Chief Andrew Bennett said.

"Heavy fire was showing from the roof of the building and the church," Bennett said. "Our first arriving engine company attacked the fire in the church, and other companies made entry into all the stores.

"There was heavy smoke in the smoke shop, so they ventilated the roof to keep the fire from spreading east through the rest of the building," Bennett said.

Eight engine crews and one truck company, a total of 29 firefighters, responded. They declared the blaze contained at 4:04 a.m., Bennett said.

One firefighter was transported to a hospital with minor injuries and released, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Tim Williams said at the scene.

Cal Fire estimated the fire caused $450,000 in damage. The property saved was estimated at $500,000.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation, Cal Fire-Riverside County spokeswoman Melody Hendrickson said in a phone interview Tuesday. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assigned an investigator to the incident, which is routine whenever a house of worship is damaged or destroyed by fire.