A fire that investigators believe was intentionally set gutted the inside of a 3,000-square-foot furniture warehouse in Morro Bay early Sunday, destroying dozens of mattresses, futons and daybeds and leaving the business's owner scrambling to store new inventory.
Firefighters sent to Morro Bay Furniture at 12:16 a.m. Sunday found flames inside two large Dumpsters near the back of the Quintana Road business and smoke at the edge of a metal roll-up door, Morro Bay Fire Capt. George Rees said. Inside the building, he said, crews discovered 30 to 50 mattresses burning and found the entire structure filled with thick black smoke.
No one was at the business when the fire began, investigators said, and no one was hurt.
Crews confined the fire to the back storage area of the building and surrounded it 22 minutes after they arrived. The business's owner, Barry Ross, estimates the fire did about $75,000 worth of damage to the merchandise inside.
Another 5,000-square-foot furniture showroom across the parking lot was not damaged, so the business will remain open.
Ross said he and the owner of the building plan to repair it, which could take two or three months. He does not want to find another location for the business, which has been housed there 10 years, but is looking for storage space he can rent temporarily to put new inventory. On Monday, a neighbor let him store six new sofas in a garage, he said.
"Ninety-nine percent of the reason I haven't slept over the last two nights isn't me -- it's my employees," Ross said. "I'm sure they're crying because I feel bad, but they have good jobs and I don't want to shut this place down."
Ross believes the blaze was set by homeless people, noting they have been seen at the back of the shop sleeping on used mattresses the staff discards. Three mattresses had been placed there Saturday, he said, and rainfall Saturday night might have led someone to take shelter and build a fire.
Rees said suspicious burn patterns led investigators to think the fire was set. He said the cause of the blaze is still under investigation and authorities have not concluded how it began.
Repairs should begin soon, said Vernon Ginder, the owner of the building. Because most of the damage was done by smoke, he said, there's no need to raze the building and rebuild.
"We're going to try to get it rebuilt as quick as we can," he said. "I'm working with insurance right now. As soon as we get a crew in there, we'll start working."
