Yesterday afternoon, about 4:20 pm, a call rang out to the Hemet fire and police agencies to respond to a fire in our HISTORIC "uptown" area of HEMET CA. Also, yesterday was the 100th birthday of HEMET CA. Ironic? Hmmm, maybe. Also, it was raining buckets, and I do mean buckets. This didn't seem to help, because it took nearly 3 hours to knock down this fire.
And, of course, being an "amateur ambulance chaser", I had to go down and check it out. Wow, it was quite a horrible sight. Those firefighters were fighting a dangerous situation. Those buildings are so old. The good news is, there didn't seem to be any casualties. And, the fire burned right up to the wall of the HISTORICAL HEMET THEATRE.
According to the newspaper article I read this morning, the owner said he was so sorry for the losses those shop owners are suffering, but how thankful he was that his theatre did not burn. Seems the previous owner had left him all sorts of really old movie reels, movie posters and other priceless memorabilla and it would have been quite a loss to the history of movies, and to Hemet.
As I drove down through town this morning to get my coffee, it was so very sad to see the burned structures. I just hope those shop owners are fully insured and can rebuild, not only their shops, but their lives, as well.
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