The Solvang Brewing Company restaurant on 1500 block of Mission Drive is temporarily closed after a fire in the back part of the building caught fire, gutting the kitchen and causing minimal smoke damage in the bar/dining room area.
According to Santa Barbara County Fire PIO Scott Safechuck, county firefighters responded to a 1st alarm structure fire at the business at 8:24 p.m. on Monday night, Jan. 20. Crews were able to get the fire knocked down by 9:16. There were no occupants in the building.
Solvang Brewing Company owner Steve Renfro said a couple days later that the fire was caused by a bag of cleaning rags that spontaneously combusted while sitting behind the business.
“We had close early that night because it was slow,” Renfro said. “We cleaned up and left about 6:15 p.m. I got a call about 8:20 telling me the building was on fire, so I drove there. Later we looked at security footage and saw the rags catch fire.”
Renfro said that while the kitchen was heavily damaged and would have to be redone, there are no issues at the front of the building, and smoke damage in the dining room was “minimal.”
For now, Renfro, who has been cooperating with city officials on recovery, is planning to get the business open “on some level” as soon as possible.
“We can’t use the kitchen for a while, but we’ll still be able to serve drinks, and I’m looking into leasing a food trailer so we can serve food to our customers,” he said.
“This is devastating to all involved,” Renfro continued. “I just want to get operating on some level because we have a lot of good employees who we need to get back to work so they can pay their bills. Right now, I’m just trying to stay positive.”
Renfro has owned the business since 2010. Solvang Brewing Company also has a location in Lompoc.
