Firefighters attack the first flames showing from the rear of the Apple Cup Cafe, during a live fire training on Saturday.
"This is the next step in getting the Apple Cup back," said Ryan Peterson, owner of the iconic Chelan restaurant. "We're grateful that the fire department will do this training, and it's the next step to getting the Apple Cup back."
The cafe at 804 E. Woodin Ave. in Chelan, was damaged by fire in March 2024, and Peterson donated the remains of the building for firefighting training.
"We have seven burn rooms (inside the cafe building), the first is the burn lab for new firefighters, " said Chelan Assistant Fire Chief Shawn Sherman to a dozen onlookers as the fire began. "The next is a fire control, scenario, so there's six more fires to burn."
As the fire raged, Sherman said, "The windows won't blow out, they'll start cracking and then fall out."
The fire training was a choreographed event held Saturday morning involving firefighters from Chelan, Manson, Entiat, Orondo and Waterville.
"If we burn the roof off of this thing too soon, the fire behavior of the structure fire changes," Manson Fire Chief Arnold Baker said. "We're protecting the roof so we have a good burn evolution."
In preparation for the burn exercise, Incident Commander, Chelan firefighter Sam Belsky instructed firefighters that the number one objective is safety.
"This is live fire, a controlled burn, so we have a lot of opportunity to be strategic on how we burn and how we fight fire," Belsky exclaimed. "Make sure everybody is safe, I want everybody going home, I want no injuries."
The Apple Cup Cafe has opened temporarily at 103 Bighorn Way in Chelan, at the community center. Now that the original cafe building has been razed, construction of a new cafe at the Woodin Ave. location is expected to begin in the spring of 2025 with an anticipated re-grand opening in early 2026.
Chelan Fire and Rescue Chief Brandon Asher, left, Assistant Chief Shawn Sherman, center, and fire training Incident Commander Sam Belsky.
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