Investigators are looking into the cause of a fire that damaged a temple full of artifacts in Hanford’s historic China Alley District last week.
The fire started late Wednesday night in the stairway leading up to the Taoist Temple Museum.
By the time firefighters put out the flames, about half of the artifacts were damaged. Arianne Wing, president of the China Alley Preservation Society was devastated.
“Just these artifacts and they’re gone! I just remember, I said, ‘they’re gone!’ and I sank to my knees,” she said.
Most of the artifacts were from the 1880s. The preservation society has met with a historian to assess the damage.
“Some of the items, we can’t tell yet if they’re scorched or if it’s soot,” Wing said.
Although the building is still standing, the upstairs portion of the museum sustained heavy damage.
“It was so colorful up there, and now it’s just all gray and black,” said Steve Banister, Wing’s husband and a board member of the preservation society.
Although water from fighting the fire seeped into the basement, no artifacts stored there had water damage.
Banister says they can’t thank the Hanford and Kings County fire departments enough for their work.
“They came quickly and they were very judicious on how much water they used because they were aware of the historical significance of the artifacts inside,” he said.
Although the cause hasn’t yet been determined, Banister says there is surveillance footage of people at the temple just before it broke out.
Wing says the Hanford community has been reaching out to help with donations through the museum’s website.
