‘Twisted metal and ash.’ Fresno brewery contemplates future following devastating fire

Dan Riley hasn’t had much sleep in the past week.

He was up all of last Tuesday night and well into Wednesday morning, watching as seven engines worth of firefighters tried to stall a fire that broke out at his brewing facility in Madera County.

The fire was reported around 8 p.m., and Riley got to the facility just behind the second responding engine. It was 3 or 4 a.m. before firefighters got a handle on the blaze, Riley said. At one point, he added, crews had to just pull back and let things burn.

Eventually, the fire leveled all of what had been Riley’s Brewery.

“It’s just twisted metal and ash,” said Riley, a multi-generational home-brewer who opened his beer and hard-soda brand in 2011.

“There is is just nothing left.”

Workers had to shovel through a foot to get to the pipe to shut off the facility’s water lines and days later, there were still spot fires and smoke, as hot ash burned down through six-pack holders and other combustibles that had been buried and not yet been destroyed.

Investigators have not determined what caused the fire, but a spokesperson for the Cal Fire unit that covers Madera said at some point the fire spread to two ethanol tanks the brewery used in the beer- and spirit-making process.

Riley is tired and somewhat sleep deprived, but he said he’s coping by going back to his military training.

“You just don’t stop,” he says.

“It is a mission. You complete the mission.”

The future for Riley’s Brew Pub in Clovis

The brewery’s distributor, Valley Wide Beverage, has a stock of inventory that could last for a few weeks, Riley’s said. After that, a decision will have to be made about the future of the company.

Patrons won’t see any slowdown at Riley’s Brew Pub in Clovis. It will continue to serve Riley’s beer until the product runs out, and then switch to rotating taps from other mostly local breweries. The process of switching its licensing with the state is already in the works, Riley said.

“The pub isn’t going to miss the beat.”

What happens with the brewery itself is a little less known and will depend on the company’s insurance, which had its own investigator out to look over the scene.

Riley’s was already in the planning stages of a multi-million dollar expansion at Riverstone, the new master-planned community just north of Fresno. In one scenario, the company could rebuild at that new location, Riley said, but he can’t say for certain that will happen.

“The fate of Riley’s is going to be based on the insurance.”

GoFundMe created for displaced employees

Right now, the most pressing concern for Riley is his employees, some of whom not only lost their jobs in the fire, but also their tools and other personal items. That includes head brewer Mike Sumaya, who also runs Incinerati Brewing Company in Clovis. He lost a pallet of grain and a pallet of empty cans that were being stored at the facility.

“So now we don’t have grain to brew with, or cans to fill, and I’m also now out of a job,” Sumaya said in a post on the Incinerati Facebook page.

Riley has been working with the Central Valley Brewers Guild and has been able to get most of the employees into new jobs. He’s also created a GoFundMe to help pay for groceries and other needed items in the mean time.

For its part, the Brewers Guild has also created a GoFundMe for the employees, which it is running in conjunction with two other fundraising efforts. One, is a collaborative beer that will be brewed and released by guild breweries (on draft and in cans) throughout the central San Joaquin Valley with all proceeds going to a relief fund for the displaced workers.

The guild has also planned a downtown beer festival for Aug. 27. The festival will take place on Fulton Street in the Brewery District. Ticket information and the list of participating breweries should be released next week.

“Riley’s Brewing has suffered a life-changing tragedy, which left our brewing and production team without jobs. These are hard-working families that could use support,” Riley’s Brewing CEO Julian Bencomo said in a statement from the Guild.