Fire Hits San Clemente Landmark; 12 Homeless : Blaze: The top floor of the Bartlett building is a total loss while its lower level is damaged by water. One person suffers minor burns.

The latest in a seemingly never-ending series of mishaps and disasters struck the city Wednesday when the historic Bartlett building--the original City Hall--was nearly destroyed by fire, leaving 12 people homeless.

Civic leaders bemoaned the possible loss--it is uncertain whether the building can be restored--of the structure erected in 1926 by the city’s founder, Ole Hanson.

“This building is part of the heart of downtown. When San Clemente was built, everything passed through here,” said Charles Ashbaugh, president of the San Clemente Historical Society. “Shortly before the Bartlett building went up, business was done out of tents.

“Some people are taking this pretty badly,” he said. “I had to shed a tear myself.”

The fire started about 9 a.m. and raced through the top floor of the two-story Spanish-style villa at the corner of Avenida del Mar and El Camino Real in minutes, according to tenants.

“I was walking through the hallway and the next thing I know, alarms started sounding and the halls were filled with black smoke,” said tenant Beverly Bryan. She moved into the building that is now partly a rooming house called the Del Mar last month.

“I got out of there real quick,” she said.

Another resident said she woke up as her ceiling was ready to fall.

“I ran to the window, but the catches were painted over and the window wouldn’t move,” said Sabrina Pepe, adding that the window latches were so hot they caused minor burns to her hands. “I got out the door and started shouting and banging on doors to wake people up.”

Her burns were the only injury reported. Fire officials could not immediately determine the cause of the blaze or the amount of damage caused to the building.

The top floor of the building was declared a total loss while the lower level, which is used for retail shops, was hit heavily by water damage. The building’s major retail space has been vacant for several weeks, although signs posted on a picture window advertised the coming of a new tenant--Rocky’s Surf Shop.

Two other small shops on the ground floor were forced to move because of the fire.

City Manager Michael W. Parness, who has watched destructive floods and landslides strike the city in recent weeks, shook his head as he watched three fire-engine crews extinguish the blaze.

“It’s been tragic--we just seem to go from one disaster scene to another these days,” Parness said. “You feel very helpless in situations like this.”

Besides the home-wrecking landslides and the fire, the city has also had to deal with a potential multimillion-dollar budget deficit. The deficit has plunged the city into political controversy, as the City Council recently approved abolishing the Police Department and contracting with the Sheriff’s Department to cut costs.

The American Red Cross is providing food, clothing and shelter to five of the fire victims, including one child. The others have found refuge with family and friends, said Scott Tokar, emergency coordinator for the Red Cross.

“I didn’t have much in the way of material things, but what I lost had a lot of sentimental value,” Pepe said.

The building sits at a major intersection that leads to the community’s main strip of shops and the city pier.

“This is a gateway to the commercial district and the pier, and one of our most historic structures,” Parness said. “Now, people will be driving by a burnt-out husk. It won’t be real good for tourism.”

Ashbaugh said the loss “has more than a simple dollar value. A lot of people grew up at the soda fountain and drugstore that used to be on the bottom floor.”

San Clemente grew up around the site, Ashbaugh said. When founder Hanson began selling his Spanish-village-by-the-sea concept, the first property deeds were sold out of a tent.

One of three landmarks on the corner of El Camino Real and Avenida del Mar, the Bartlett building is listed in city documents as the second structure to rise in San Clemente. In addition to being the original City Hall, the building held the offices of El Heraldo, one of the first newspapers distributed in town.

“City Hall meetings and all kinds of civic gatherings took place in that building,” Ashbaugh said.

“We’ve lost a pretty important chunk of San Clemente history.”