Cause Of El Portal Fire Determined As Electrical

The El Portal Market was completely destroyed by fire on Monday, April 21st. The results of the Mariposa County Fire investigation were released last Friday and revealed that the cause of the fire was electrical (for a PDF copy of the ten-page report, click on the link below). Hazardous waste material evaluation of the burn site will begin on May 5th and is expected to take at least a week for results. Clean up of the burn site will commence after the hazardous waste evaluation is completed. Superintendent Michael Tollefson announced on Thursday that the store operation will be moved to the El Portal Motor Inn (currently known as the special park uses office) for the duration of the concessionaire’s six year contract. The park plans to have the building ready to open as a store in nine months time. No decision has been made yet regarding the option of opening up the back road ("Rail Road”) from the park firehouse to the motor inn. The subject will be discussed at upcoming El Portal town planning advisory committee meetings. The park staff who currently work in the special park uses office will be moved into temporary office space in the near future.