Edition:
December 5, 2008
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The Friday Flyer Editor
Receiving a call in the middle of the night is never a good thing. Unfortunately, that was the rude awakening Canyon Fitness Center owner David Garcia and his wife Macy got by cell phone early Friday morning, November 28, in San Diego when they learned the fitness center was on fire. The call came from David’s assistant, Melissa Berkey, whose mother was driving to Wal-mart at 4 a.m. and saw the blaze.
When he got back to Canyon Lake, the flames were out and all that remained of the second story corner of the building housing racquetball and basketball courts was a charred skeleton of melted metal and a parking lot full of fire trucks, sooty puddles of water and firefighters finishing their mop-up and salvage work.
First on the scene, Station 94 Captain Jonah Winger said that, after the smell of smoke was reported to 911 at 3:17 a.m., an engine from Station 94 on Railroad Canyon Rd. was dispatched to the area at 3:19 and spotted smoke rising from the building. Firefighters had to use a rotary saw to cut away the iron gate that secures the front door of the building and began attacking the fire from what Captain Winger described as a “safe area” inside the building with 600 feet of 2.5-in. hose.
They fought from that position for about 20 minutes before the roof collapsed and they had to exit the building, according to Winger. Crews from seven fire stations continued fighting the blaze with deck guns and a water tower. With these efforts and the presence of the building’s firewall, a thick masonry wall designed to slow a fire’s advance, they were able to keep the fire from spreading to the rest of the building. The fire was contained at 4:50 a.m.
According to an incident report provided by Cal Fire and Riverside County Fire Department, 5,000 sq. ft. of the building burned, with 10,000 sq. ft. sustaining heavy water and smoke damage. The loss was estimated at one million dollars, while the value of what was saved was estimated at three million dollars.
“It was a really good save; the crews did an awesome job,” says Station 60 Captain Brent Carter, whose station was one of those on the scene.
Responding to the scene of the two-alarm fire were 13 engines, three trucks and 58 firefighters from Station 94 on Railroad Canyon Rd., Station 60 in Canyon Lake, Station 5 in Quail Valley, Station 7 in Sun City, Station 73 in Menifee, Station 76 in Menifee Lakes, Station 10 in Lake Elsinore and Station 61 in Wildomar. Initially, a third alarm was called but those engines left when it was determined the fire was under control, according to Winger.
Southwest Division Chief Bob Toupes, a Canyon Lake resident also on the scene of the fire, says firefighters caught a break this weekend with damp weather. If it had been a weekend of Santa Ana winds, it could have been a different story. Canyon Fitness backs up to the Fairway Estates and brush-covered hills, but no fire reached those areas, nor was there damage to AA Great American Golf, which is a short distance across the parking lot from the section of Canyon Fitness that burned.
For members of the fitness center who showed up Friday morning to work off their Thanksgiving feasts, the sight of the burned-out upper floor was shocking. Canyon Lake resident Bob Benter got the news early when his son, who lives in Canyon Hills, sent him a text message about 4:30 a.m. to tell him the building was on fire.
Bob was at the grand opening for Canyon Fitness Center when it opened 25 years ago and has been a member ever since, so he knows many of the approximately 1,600 people who have memberships there. “It’s kind of like losing my family,” he says. “I feel homeless.” He and others in his group of friends say they will work out at another fitness center until Canyon Fitness reopens.
On Friday morning, when asked if he could speculate on the cause of the fire, David said he was told it started in the electrical room. As the story unfolded that morning, two other incidents came to light that may or may not be related to the Canyon Fitness fire.
According to Captain Winger, Station 94 was dispatched about 1:30 a.m. to check on an incident across the street from Canyon Fitness Center where power lines were reported to be arcing in the area of the Canyon Lake Country Club. When an engine went to investigate, firefighters noticed the power was out in the vicinity.
Allied Barton Community Patrol Manager Vince Schiavi confirmed that Patrol Officer Chris Warren was the one to call 911 after he was dispatched to check on a stuck gate at the Skylink entrance to the Fairway Estates and saw arcing power lines across the street.
During the Friday morning interview, it also was revealed that a witness named Brett Williams told fire officials he was just coming over the hill on Railroad Canyon Rd. when he saw a bright flash of bluish green light in the area of the fitness center and Country Club. According to fire officials, his description was consistent with that of an electrical flash and was reported to have happened sometime after 1 a.m.
Captain Winger declined to speculate whether the earlier electrical incident had anything to do with the fire at Canyon Fitness Center.
On Monday, four investigators from Southern California Edison and four investigators from David’s insurance company were on the scene to determine the cause of the blaze. David says the building is well covered with fire insurance and business interruption insurance.
By Saturday, cleanup was well underway and David was optimistic he would be able to open the undamaged left side of the building with cardio equipment downstairs and some weight room equipment upstairs, along with an aerobic room and bicycle room. If everything goes as planned, he anticipates opening sometime in January.
In the meantime, he was able to contact the billing company on Friday and halt all credit card and bank account billing as of December 1.
David offers his sincere appreciation to the firefighters who worked so diligently to save Canyon Fitness from being totally lost. He also thanks Battalion 13 Chief Steve Gallegos for taking him and a crew of 10 firefighters to remove important business items from his office the morning of the fire.
He says he is appreciative of the contractors who jumped in and have already accomplished so much. Because the fire department wouldn’t release the building to David until the upstairs front wall was knocked down for safety reasons, General Contractor Paul Touw of TC Company went in to do that work within hours of the blaze. Paul and Jim Frost of Ameri-Clean Carpet and Upholstery Cleaners have spent long hours on the scene doing what they do best, according to David. In addition, Quality Glass went in and removed all the mirrors so the sodden drywall could be stripped. David says the insurance people have been on hand to approve each step of the salvage process. The days have been long and arduous with one goal in mind – to get the center up and operating for its members.
He said he and Melissa had already taken a hundred calls from members wanting to know the status of the center, so he wants to get it running as soon as possible.
“All their questions and concerns will be addressed on a continual basis as we undergo the huge undertaking of rebuilding,” says David. We have as many questions as they do about the length of time this process will take – and it is a process. We will be posting regular updates on the website at www.canyonfitnesscenter.com.”
Dr. John Allen of Canyon Rehab and Chiropractic, which has an office at Canyon Fitness Center, says he has moved his office to a temporary location in the Towne Center, three doors down from Domino’s Pizza. Unfortunately, the dance classes at the new Canyon Dance Company have been discontinued.
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