At approximately 4:00 am this morning, three buildings in downtown Covelo were engulfed in flames and destroyed. According to a local onsite, CalFire personnel and volunteers from the local fire department were on scene and able to suppress the fire before it destroyed a fourth building.
Jessi Alvarado, a Covelo resident whose business is directly adjacent to the site of the fire, reported the North Fork Cafe and Western Auto Tire were completely destroyed, and the inside of the Round Valley Center of the Arts was burnt out.
Alvarado said the loss of these businesses will greatly affect the Covelo community, “We are going to feel this loss and I hope to help rebuild quickly.” She added the North Fork Cafe was “our only dinner restaurant for many years. It had been open about 20 years.”
We have reached out to Cal Fire Public Information Officer Patricia Austin and have yet to receive a response. We will update this article with further information as soon as it becomes available.
UPDATE: 9:28 am
Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall informed us that MCSO is going to be working along side a Local Fire Investigation Task Force today to determine the cause and origin of the fire.
Sheriff Kendall mourned the loss of the North Fork Cafe as “one of the only restaurants left in Round Valley” and Western Auto Tire. He said, “these are businesses that have been serving the community for decades.”
All images and video provided by Covelo resident Jessi Alvarado
