SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — On Sunday in Snoqualmie, flames tore through a historic building, damaging four businesses. Since then, community members have come together to help the shop owners recover from the fire.
The reality is setting in for Jaime Pon-Daniel, the owner of Littlest Wishes Photography.
"Everything for my business is in that building. Everything is gone,” said Pon-Daniel. "Camera, lighting, backdrops, props, everything was in there."
Firefighters were called early Sunday morning, just after five o’clock. Soon after, Pon-Daniel received a call, too. The fire severely damaged the building’s four businesses.
"Right below me is Chickadee Bakeshop and the Snoqualmie Pie Co., and then on the front side of the business is Snoqualmie Ice Cream,” Pon-Daniel explained.
"This building will have to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground,” said Heather Dean, the co-owner of Snoqualmie Ice Cream.
"It was totally, totally engulfed. The flames were insane,” said Dorie Ross, the co-owner of Chickadee Bake Shop and Snoqualmie Pie Company.
"This tragedy happened to our business neighbors, so I think everyone wanted to pitch in right away," said Beth Burrows, the owner of North Bend Theatre.
"The first thing I thought of is we could do a fundraiser movie, something inspirational,” said Burrows who added that the event will happen later this month.
An online effort to benefit businesses is underway, too.
"We are very grateful to live in this community,” said Julie Chung, co-owner of Snoqualmie Ice Cream.
"We are definitely feeling the love and we want to be able to get back up to doing what we do,” said Kathryn, the co-owner of Chickadee Bakeshop and Snoqualmie Pie Company. "We have a very tight, symbiotic, cool sisterhood here."
The four businesses, all women-owned, are fiercely fighting to be back.
“Just to be able to rebuild and come back bigger and stronger,” said Pon-Daniel. "I just want to get back to work."
No one was hurt in the fire. The cause is under investigation. The building closure is impacting the four businesses, but the rest of downtown Snoqualmie is open.