UPDATE: Damages Estimated at $800,000 from 2-Alarm Fire at McIntyre Tile Building in Healdsburg

Damages from this morning's fire at the building at 55 W. Grant St. are now estimated at $800,000, Chief Steve Adams said.

"Preliminary damages are estimated at $800,000 and the fire is still under investigation with the assistance of the Sonoma County Fire Investigation Task Force," Adams said in a 5:15 p.m. Tuesday news release.

 Several dozen firefighters from Healdsburg and surrounding regions battled the early morning blaze that gutted the 3,500-square-foot, one-story, aging wooden structure on the other side of the railroad tracks from the station house. Adams said the 9-1-1 call came in at 6:03 a.m.

By the time he and his crew got there minutes later, it was fully involved and threatening nearby structures, Adams said.

"There were no sprinklers, and it was an open structure of old timber," Adams said. "We had to do a major defensive containment."

Adams put out a second alarm, drawing in about 15 fire engines from close to a dozen surrounding towns. All the units working together were able to contain the fire to the McIntyre building and avoid damage to the adjacent

"That was one of our main concerns," Adams said. "There's a whole winery operation there."

A massive excavator rig was called in at about 9 a.m. to clear out the interior of the building.

"Due to the amount of fire damage and risk of collapse causing injuries to firefighters, an excavator was used to safely remove portions of the building," Adams said. "Damages consisted of a total loss of the building and some contents were able to be salvaged. 

No injuries occurred to occupants or fire personnel, Adams added.

It was the second 2-alarm fire in two days in Healdsburg. just before 2 a.m. Sunday. A barbecue grill left out on a wooden deck is suspected of leaking hot ashes and possibly igniting the fire.

Mike Fenton of Healdsburg, a glaze maker at the tile plant for more than 20 years, said a co-worker told him he arrived at McIntyre at about 6 a.m., smelled smoke, ran outside and called 9-1-1. Fenton said the co-worker told him the fire broke out in one of the offices, and may have been electrical in origin.

Adams said the cause was still under investigation. Healdsburg Fire Marshal Linda Collister said she interviewed some of the workers who were on the scene early in the morning, and would be continuing the probe into the cause.

"Our main thing now is to avoid getting runoff into ," Collister said. "We're trying to stop the debris from getting into the creek."

Fenton said the kilns that bake the ceramic tiles are turned off at night. A Pacific Gas and Electric crew was on the scene to remove gas lines to the kilns and pull the gas meters out in order to allow the excavating rig to come in and remove the interior of the building.

"I guess it will be at least two or three months before we could do any production here," Fenton said. "We'll have to rebuild."

Fenton said the owner of the firm lives in Texas. He purchased the company from original owner Bob McIntyre about four years ago, Fenton said.

McIntyre Tile employs about 20 to 25 people, Fenton said.

Responding units included those from: Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, Rincon Valley, Forestville, Geyserville, Windsor, Cloverdale, CalFire, among others.

t closed West Grant Street at Healdsburg Avenue to traffic for several hours to allow emergency vehicle access.