Investigators say Cabo San Luis fire was arson

UPDATE:

Fire investigators said the fire that destroyed the Cabo San Luis restaurant early Wednesday morning was ruled arson.

A press release sent out by the fire department states an investigation was conducted by members of the San Luis Obispo Fire Investigation Strike Team and the San Luis Obispo City Fire Department. The fire started on an outside wall of the restaurant where there was nothing that could have started an “accidental or mechanical ignition.”

Authorities are asking anyone with information to call fire investigator John Madden at 781-7381 or the Crime Stoppers Hotline anonymously at 549-7867.

ORIGINAL STORY:

A fire damaged part of a Foothill Boulevard retail complex and destroyed the Cabo San Luis restaurant early Wednesday morning, fire officials said. No injuries were reported.

Four fire agencies responded to a report of a structure fire around 4 a.m. They found flames shooting out of the restaurant’s roof as it was caving in. Firefighters knocked down the fire at about 4:40, but not before the largest explosion of the morning, which occurred approximately five minutes later, San Luis Obispo City Fire Chief John Callahan said.

“It blew the wall out the side toward the Shell Gas Station, and we could feel the concussion over here at the command post (located across the street),” he said.

Firefighters attacked the fire with two aerial water pipes to quell the flames. There were also firefighters surrounding the structure to secure the periphery and ensure the fire didn’t spread to other buildings, Callahan said.

Fire authorities escorted adjacent building owners in and out of their businesses in order to secure valuables, he added. Fire Marshal Rodger Maggio estimated more than one million dollars in damages.

Property manager Dan Rutledge, of Rutledge Company, said that Cabo San Luis is gone and Kona’s Deli is “severely impacted.”

“The other two aren’t damaged,” he said, referring to SLO Bookstore and the Rock & Roll Hair Salon, “but we can’t open them until we find out what caused the fire.”

Callahan described the restaurant as a “total loss,” but the owner, Dan Harper, would have the final call.

Ty Vinke, manager of Cabo San Luis, which has been open for about 10 years, said at first he didn’t believe it.

“I don’t know anything yet,” Vinke said as he stood across the street drinking out of a cream-colored, green-rimmed mug, as he watched the fire crews work in the light drizzle around 9 a.m. “It was a really gnarly fire. I just saw the devastation. The building was annihilated for the most part. So it was pretty much a shock for me.”

Terri Sablan, who works at Rabobank down the street, said the building looked like it exploded.

“It’s so sad,” she said. “I’ve eaten here a lot. I have a customer who eats here every day. The food was delicious.”

Rock & Roll Hair stylist Blake Strait said he thought the fire got all the way to the front side of Kona’s Deli.

“I got a phone call about 6 this morning telling me not to bother coming into work because the whole left side of the building was on fire,” he said. “The whole roof is gone. It looks extremely out-of-place.”

Callahan said they are conducting a fire investigation to determine the cause, and then they will turn the matter over to insurance companies.

Aimee Vasquez and Alex Kacik contributed to this report.