A small office building on Harbor Street belonging to the City of Morro Bay caught fire last week, but the fire department was able to quickly contain and put the fire out.
According to a news release from Fire Chief Daniel McCrain, at about 7:35 a.m. Wednesday, July 9 a structure fire was reported in the City Hall Annex Building, a small standalone space at 535 Harbor St., across from the Post Office and about a block away from the Harbor Street Fire Station.
The Annex used to be the City’s transportation office under MV Transportation but has been used for many years by City officials as a conference/meeting room.
Chief McCrain said the building was unoccupied when the fire broke out.
“The fire was contained in the room of origin by Morro Bay Fire Department personnel,” the Chief said. “There were no public, or first responder injuries reported.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Fire Department. The fire harkens back to the early 2000s when the old Public Works Office at 695 Harbor St., caught fire and ruined decades worth of City records with smoke damage.
That fire was caused by the short-circuiting of an extension cord. The Fire Department responded from across the street and was able to prevent further damage.
But the department was temporarily moved into a vacant, former bank building on Morro Bay Boulevard that’s now Distassio’s Italian Restaurant.
The Annex at one time housed the Planning Department, which moved along with Public Works into a prefab structure that was brought in adjacent to City Hall on Shasta Avenue. That marked the combining of the Planning & Building, Engineering and Public Works Departments under one roof.
As for the old Public Works site, the City brought in another prefab building to house the fire department after its old station was damaged in an earthquake and deemed uninhabitable. The fire department eventually burned it down in a training exercise.
After a few years, years, the City built the Harbor Street Fire Station, a modern building expected to house the fire department for many decades to come.
