PORT ANGELES — A Parker Paint representative is estimating that it will take a week to reopen the company’s downtown location after a fire erupted in the store Monday evening.
Employees of the store, located at the corner of Front and Lincoln streets, and representatives from the company’s Tacoma headquarters were working Tuesday morning to assess the damage.
Store Director Brad Stine said Tuesday that the building is structurally sound and the store should reopen in “about a week.”
No one was hurt in the fire, reported at about 5:35 p.m. Monday.
Damage was limited to the store’s paint mixing room, at the northwest corner of the store at 201 E. Front St.
The rest of the building suffered smoke and water damage, Stine said.
The Kokopelli Grill, next door to Parker Paint, was undamaged by the fire and was operating under normal business hours Tuesday, said owner Michael McQuay.
“We were really lucky,” he said.
Police blocked access on U.S. Highway 101 west at Peabody Street and Lincoln Street at First Street for nearly an hour Monday as firefighters worked to extinguish the smoky fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Stine said it wasn’t clear by looking at the damage what sparked the flames.
The cost of the damage was unclear Tuesday, he said, adding that insurance will cover all repairs.
Police Cpl. Kevin Miller saw the smoke from the fire when he arrived to investigate a burglar alarm at the store, and reported the fire between 5:35 p.m. and 5:40 p.m.
Smoke was billowing from the building when a fire engine arrived at 5:44 p.m.
Fire Marshal Ken Dubuc said the duty crew was on an aid call elsewhere at the time Miller reported the fire, slowing the response to the fire.
The building housing both Parker Paint and Kokopelli Grill originally was a wooden building, housing Johnson & Bork Wallpaper and Paint in 1892, said Deputy Mayor Don Perry, who leads a downtown historical tour and is an authority on the history of the commercial structures.
The current building replaced the original Johnson & Bork structure in 1922, Perry said.
The business was sold to Parker Paint about 12 years ago.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
