30 Stein Am Rhein Ct; Units J & K
Redwood City, CA 94063
U.S.A.
Tel: 650-298-8548
Fax: 650-364-1299
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| Wine shop fire ruled accidental |
| Bay City News |
An electrical glitch likely caused an early morning fire that gutted a San Mateo specialty wine shop Tuesday and destroyed more than 200 cases of "priceless'' wine and liquor, according to the fire department and a store employee.
The three-alarm blaze caused about $400,000 in damage to the Wine Globe, located at 25 43rd Ave. near South El Camino Real, said Brian Kelly, chief of the San Mateo Fire Department.
The fire was reported at 6:26 a.m. and firefighters almost immediately asked for help to battle the flames that were threatening nearby businesses, he said. Investigators stayed at the store most of the day and discovered the blaze that got deep into the interior walls was "electrical in nature,'' Kelly said.
"It started on the mezzanine level in a public area,'' he said, but "it was not suspicious.''
Damage to the building was extensive, but the structure is intact, Kelly said. The fire department hasn't yet estimated the value of the hundreds of cases of wine and liquor destroyed.
The store's shipping manager, who didn't want to be named, said today that some of the bottles were priceless, having aged over time, making them simply irreplaceable. "I don't know where to begin,'' he said. "It was a big loss.''
"It's a bad time any time, but certainly heading into the Christmas season,'' Kelly said.
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