Suspicious fire destroys much of El Rancho Motel in Barstow

A fire deemed as suspicious destroyed three-quarters of the historic El Rancho Motel on Tuesday night along Route 66 in Barstow, California.

The three-alarm blaze forced the closing of about a quarter-mile of Main Street in the city, but no injuries were reported.

The Victorville Daily Press in nearby Victorville had some details after the blaze was brought under control:

“We’re not prepared to call it an arson yet, but we’re going to call it a ‘suspicious fire,’ ” BPD Captain Chris Kirby told the Daily Press shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday. He said an investigator was still on the scene at that time, but awaiting lab results for evidence from the blaze may delay any solid determinations.

“We are working with our investigators with bomb and arson and we’re trying to determine whether it’s actual arson or not,” Kirby said. “I’m thinking it’s going to take a bit of time — a couple weeks, or maybe even longer — to determine what the evidence is really telling us.” […]

“It’s a big one. It’s done. This El Rancho is done,” one bystander shouted with a tone of awe as he left the scene Tuesday night.

VVNG.com also posted several photos from the fire scene.

Cliff Chase built the motel in the 1940s, partly out of old railroad ties. The 100-foot-tall neon sign was erected in 1947.

Thought it remained a favorite with numerous Route 66 travelers, several of the motel’s rooms had been red-tagged in recent years because they were unsuitable for human habitation.

(Image of the El Rancho Motel fire via Barstow Fire Department)

2 thoughts on “Suspicious fire destroys much of El Rancho Motel in Barstow

  1. Yet another historic building lost to almost certainly either another twisted mind that gets pleasure from the destruction of other people’s property, either by smashing it up or by setting it ablaze – or someone who wants the land for the construction of a new business. The Wild West still exists?

  2. It’s a shame to see this; yet another historic property gone forever. I suspect that the fate of the El Rancho is part of the long-term economic fallout of the covid-19 pandemic & quarantine. When h/motels struggle to fill rooms, management starts advertising “weekly rates,” meaning the transient and semi-transient. When that happens, the decline and decay are well underway.

    I stopped and looked at the El Rancho on all of my four Route 66 journeys but never took a room there. The place looked all right from the outside but I sure didn’t like the sketchy looks of some of the people hanging around the property.

    I’d always been nagged by looming reservations about El Rancho from the first that I’d read about it: constructed of railway crossties salvaged from the defunct Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad. Railroad crossties are treated with creosote (among other chemicals) to prevent the wood from rotting. Creosote is a toxic substance; a known health hazard. I’m not sure that I want to sleep in a room where the walls may be effusing a toxic vapor, even in small amounts. The toxicity of creosote is one of the several reasons that most railroads have changed to use pre-cast, concrete-cement crossties.

    Well, too late now and a tearful goodbye to the El Rancho. And the Route keeps changing.

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