TRUCKEE, Calif. and#8212; On August 29 and again on August 30, we had a small fire at the Sierra Tavern Building. The immediate and professional response by the Truckee Fire district protected people and reduced property damage. Their conservative use of water especially helped reduce property damage. The public face of the department, Gary Botto and Bob Bena, were extremely helpful, but all the men and women of the department and surrounding area departments deserve commendations. The fires were of an unusual origin, and one member searched the Internet and gave us a fire engineering report that served as a starting point in the search and repair of the causes of the fires.

As the building was evacuated after the second fire, Phred Stoner and the Red Cross stepped up and provided shelter and food for the tenants of the Sierra Tavern. The Red Cross is truly there to provide assistance when disaster strikes. Thanks also goes to the Truckee Police Department for providing security the first night the building was unoccupied.

A special recognition needs to go out to Michael Lavallee, chief building official for the town of Truckee. He made multiple inspections of the building to make sure it was safe for reoccupation, including one on Saturday afternoon, which allowed the tenants to return, at the beginning of a holiday weekend.

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A thanks also goes to Alex Terrazas, assistant town manager, for looking out for the well being of the residential tenants of the building. To the Truckee Hotel for providing discounted lodging. The Church Street Cafe for providing discounted meals. And to the commercial tenants of the building for there patient and understanding while their business operations were being disturbed.

In the search for the cause, Sverre Vandehei of Vandehei Electric was indispensable. His professionalism and knowledge of electrical theory made finding the cause quick work. I would also like to thank the Truckee Donner PUD for their help and quick response to the problem.

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Finally I thank the residential tenants of the Sierra Tavern for their cooperation and help through a personal hardship, they even helped clean the day before re-occupation. The most recognition needs to go to Andreas Frutos and his family the manager of the building, while under the stress of losing the use of his home and being injured in the fire he still took control of the situation and provided assistance to the tenants and agencies dealing with the disaster.

Truckee is truly a wonderful place. The people of Truckee made dealing with a difficult situation much less stressful and for that I thank all the people of Truckee.

Scott Brandos is a part-time Truckee resident and owner of the Sierra Tavern Building.