Four Palm Desert businesses destroyed in overnight structure fire

City News Service
Updated ·1 min read
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Four Palm Desert businesses, including Papa Dan's Pizza & Pasta, D’ Coffee Bouteaque, Reverse Mortgage Works and Miracle-Ear Hearing Aid Center, were destroyed during a fire in a strip mall, the Riverside County Fire Department said Sunday.

A building in the Plaza De Monterey Shoping Center that contained Papa Dans, D'Coffee Bouteaque, Miracle Ear and Reverse Mortgage Works was destroyed by fire in the early morning of April 15, 2024 in Palm Desert, Calif..
A building in the Plaza De Monterey Shoping Center that contained Papa Dans, D'Coffee Bouteaque, Miracle Ear and Reverse Mortgage Works was destroyed by fire in the early morning of April 15, 2024 in Palm Desert, Calif..

The fire was reported at 3:43 a.m. Sunday in the 73-000 block of of Country Club Drive, where "the first on-scene engine reported a commercial strip mall with heavy smoke and fire coming from the front and the roof," said Maggie Cline De La Rosa, public information officer with Riverside County Fire, "and they requested a second alarm."

"A second alarm is a repeat of the initial dispatch," she said, "so the initial dispatch is five engines and a truck with a chief, so a second alarm is another engine, another truck and two more chiefs."

UPDATE: Arson suspect arrested after fire destroyed four Palm Desert businesses identified

By Monday morning, a light brown tarp-wrapped fence had been placed around the perimeter of the affected businesses, while a security officer from Personal Protective Services stood watch. Nearby businesses, like Country Club Cleaners, were open for business.

Six residences near the strip mall were temporarily evacuated on Sagewood Drive and Silktree Court, but the residents were able to return home safely after the fire was extinguished, the department said.

A building in the Plaza De Monterey Shoping Center that contained Papa Dan's, D'Coffee Bouteaque, Miracle Ear and Reverse Mortgage Works was destroyed by fire in the early morning of April 15, 2024 in Palm Desert, Calif..
A building in the Plaza De Monterey Shoping Center that contained Papa Dan's, D'Coffee Bouteaque, Miracle Ear and Reverse Mortgage Works was destroyed by fire in the early morning of April 15, 2024 in Palm Desert, Calif..

A deputy from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, but no other injuries were reported.

A building in the Plaza De Monterey Shoping Center that contained Papa Dan's, D'Coffee Bouteaque, Miracle Ear and Reverse Mortgage Works was destroyed by fire in the early morning of April 15, 2024 in Palm Desert, Calif..
A building in the Plaza De Monterey Shoping Center that contained Papa Dan's, D'Coffee Bouteaque, Miracle Ear and Reverse Mortgage Works was destroyed by fire in the early morning of April 15, 2024 in Palm Desert, Calif..

East County Club Drive between Monterey Avenue and Sagewood Drive were closed as fire crews remained on-scene for overhaul and salvage, but the roadway is completely open now.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Contributing: Jennifer Cortez, Kate Franco

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Four Palm Desert businesses destroyed in overnight structure fire