Flames gut vacant Winton bar

Fire rushed through a vacant bar Friday morning, causing thousands of dollars in damage and briefly threatening several homes and businesses in the area.

Flames were reported around 9:10 a.m. at corner of Winton Way and Gerard Avenue in Winton. Residents and business owners said the vacant building had once been the home of a locally famous Winton bar called the Wagon Wheel and was later renamed the Chiquita Banana. It had been vacant for several years, area resident said.

No injuries were reported, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Merced County.

“The fire spread all the way to the back of the structure, so we took a defensive stance to protect the other neighboring buildings,” said Battalion Chief Ken Warnock.

More than 100 people watched the building burn up from sidewalks across the street in downtown Winton, but not Bob Boesch, whose barber shop sits just several feet away from the fire burned. With flames and smoking shooting into the air two doors from his business, Boesch stayed inside and continued cutting Llyod Tapley’s hair.

“I’m not worried (the firefighters) are doing a great job keeping it over there, away from the other buildings,” Boesch said.

Boesch said he was pleased firefighters were letting the building burn.

“That place has just been a real eye sore since it closed down. It needed to burn down,” he said. “A lot of vagrants were always moving around there, staying there, all the time.”

The cloud of thick black smoke could be seen from as away as Merced.

Resident Brad Gee said he spotted the flames from about a mile away and rode his bicycle over to Winton Way. “It was just this little plume of smoke at first and like five minutes later it was just a giant cloud,” Gee said.

About 18 firefighters battled the flames using six fire engines. The cause of the fire remained under investigation Friday.

Firefighters put initial damage estimates at more than $50,000.

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 9:34 AM with the headline "Flames gut vacant Winton bar."