Third-Alarm Fire Guts Newhall Refinery, Collapses Facade on Main Street

A third-alarm fire tore through the 24000 block of Main Street in Old Town Newhall before dawn Monday, spreading from a one-story commercial building into neighboring businesses and forcing more than 100 firefighters into a defensive stand as part of the structure's front facade came crashing down. No injuries have been reported.

Crews with the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrived around 2:55 a.m. to find smoke and fire showing from the roof of the building, according to CBS News. The fire quickly escalated to a third alarm as flames spread from the initial structure to other nearby storefronts, and aerial footage captured heavy smoke pouring from several businesses along the block.

The building at the center of the blaze houses Newhall Refinery, a gastropub at 24259 Main Street known for farm-to-fork dining and craft beer pairings, and an anchor tenant in Old Town Newhall's dining district, according to Visit Santa Clarita. As the fire burned, firefighters shifted into what the Los Angeles Times described as defensive mode, spraying water onto the roof from ladder trucks rather than entering the building because of the high risk of collapse. That risk materialized around 5:45 a.m., when a portion of the building's front facade gave way, forcing crews to scramble clear of the falling debris.

Streets Shut Down Across Old Town Newhall

The fire prompted rolling closures across the historic commercial core. Main Street, Railroad Avenue, Newhall Avenue, Sixth Street and Eighth Street were all shut down as crews worked the scene, and drivers were urged to seek alternate routes and avoid the area entirely.

Main Street and Railroad Avenue run parallel to the active passenger tracks serving the Jan Heidt Newhall Metrolink Station, with the Antelope Valley Line operating directly adjacent to Railroad Avenue, per the Los Angeles Times and the City of Santa Clarita. Whether Monday's closures disrupted morning Metrolink service remains an open question, as does the official cause of the fire and the full extent of damage to the businesses neighboring Newhall Refinery.

A Second Response to the Same Address in Months

This was not the first time fire crews had been called to Newhall Refinery this year. In February, according to KHTS Radio, workers and patrons reported an odor at the restaurant, prompting a fire department response that ultimately traced the smell to a malfunctioning heater rather than a structural fire. That earlier call caused no structural damage and no injuries.

The gastropub's name carries its own local history. Newhall Refinery was established as a tribute to the original refinery built in 1930, which burned down on August 12, 1944, after a Bunsen burner ignited naphtha fumes and set off a massive oil fire that destroyed 18 storage tanks and burned 2.5 million gallons of crude oil, according to KHTS Radio's account of that day in Santa Clarita Valley history.

Fire Hits a Corridor Mid-Transformation

Monday's blaze struck a stretch of Main Street that has been the focus of active civic investment. Just four days earlier, the City of Santa Clarita hosted its monthly SENSES Block Party on August 20, a recurring third-Thursday event that runs from April through September and brings live music, food trucks and outdoor dining directly onto Main Street.

The affected block also sits within a corridor eyed for major redevelopment. The city council approved a six-month Exclusive Negotiating Agreement in January for a project at Main Street and Railroad Avenue that would bring 65 residential units and a 300-stall parking structure to three city-owned parcels, according to the Dubner Real Estate Group. Commercial properties in the area fall under the city's Old Town Newhall Specific Plan, adopted in 2005 to guide the district's transformation into a pedestrian-oriented commercial hub.

Many of the early 20th-century commercial buildings that line Main Street remain without official landmark status. Santa Clarita revised its historic preservation ordinance in 2013, shrinking its list of designated municipal historic landmarks from 43 structures to just 11, per the LA Conservancy.

Part of a Punishing Month for Local Fire Crews

Monday's blaze adds to what has been an especially demanding stretch for the Los Angeles County Fire Department in the Santa Clarita Valley. It follows the second-alarm Archer Fire near Agua Dulce just a day earlier, and the Tasha Fire that ignited near Newhall Pass on August 9. The department escalates to multi-alarm responses when structures or brush threaten rapid fire spread, a pattern that has repeated itself across the valley throughout August.