JOHN DAY — Dawn DeGrande, owner of DP Home Entertainment, is still reeling from the loss of the business she’s owned for almost two decades after a devastating fire in downtown John Day left three storefronts totaled and several others closed temporarily.

DeGrande’s electronics store, at 137 E. Main St., was among the three businesses on the north side of the street in John Day’s downtown core that were completely destroyed on April 17, with witnesses reporting that smoke started coming out of the building shortly before 6 p.m.

“That night and the last couple of days has been kind of a blur, and I’m kind of in a fog,” she said.

DeGrande was still waiting on the findings from her insurance company’s investigation a few days after the fire. She said she’s thankful for the response from firefighters from across Grant County and Central Oregon who responded and spent most of the night quelling the blaze.

“The fire crews did an excellent job of trying to save the buildings and keeping it from spreading to other buildings, and I’m so thankful nobody was ever hurt,” she said.

Deputy Fire Marshall Casey Kump, from the Office of the State Fire Marshal, arrived on April 18 to investigate the cause of the fire.

Kump said arson had been ruled out and investigators believe the fire to be accidental, with the most likely cause being electrical in nature.

“The fire was initially burning in the void space above the ceiling in DP Home Entertainment,” Kump said. “This made it difficult to extinguish and assisted in the propagation to the neighboring exposure businesses.”

In the aftermath of the fire, DeGrande said her thoughts are with her customers. She said she’s at a loss as to how to contact them, complete business orders or fulfill existing contracts. DeGrande said she had just received a shipment of AT&T phones and had been planning to introduce AT&T service to the area.

“I just thank Grant County for their support and their caring and for how they’ve supported me for 19 years,” DeGrande said. “Right now I wish I could still help the ones I was making orders for and all the people making payments through me for their Verizon (accounts) and helping them with their cellphones. Right now I’m just thinking of them.”

Tabitha Greene was set to open her new shop, Fire & Ice Cream, next door to DP Home Entertainment sometime in mid-May. Her electricity had just been turned on the Friday before the fire, and she had moved half of her equipment into the store that day.

“My heart sunk,” said Greene of the April 17 fire. “I arrived too late to get anything out. Everything was gone. I accepted it and started working on Plan B.”

She had not acquired insurance for the business, but Greene said the situation was not catastrophic.

“It’s not so difficult,” Greene said. “We paid for everything out of pocket, so it’s not like I have bills piling up.”

Greene’s ice cream shop would have served “dietary friendly” ice cream with more traditional flavors such as French vanilla, in a curd style, and Mexican chocolate, in addition to some exotic flavors on the menu. Greene said she’s lactose-intolerant, so she made her own lactose-free ice creams, with most dairy-based but some soy- or banana-based.

“I have spicy ice cream,” Greene said. “We have habanero peach, and it’s a peach pie with a nice cinnamon and oat flavor — and it’s spicier than heck. We have a jalapeño popper ice cream, which is a cheesecake (flavor) with candied jalapeños and candied bacon. Our third spicy one was scorpion cherry, with black cherry and scorpion pepper.”

Greene, a culinary school graduate and chef for the past 20 years, is engaged to be married to her business partner on the venture, Talyn Elliot. The pair live in John Day.

Plan B for Greene is acquiring a food truck. She said she hopes to start selling her ice cream as a vendor at Grant County’s ’62 Days Celebration, a two-day festival on June 15 and 16 that marks the discovery of gold in Canyon City in 1862. She also plans to sell pints of her ice cream at the 1188 Brewing Co., another fire-damaged business on Main Street in John Day, when it opens back up, and be a vendor at the Canyon City farmers markets and the Friday Street Fairs in John Day, Canyon City and Prairie City sponsored by RAIN Catalysts this year.

“We’re planning a commemorative ice cream as well because the irony of our name isn’t lost on me,” Greene said. “I haven’t figured out the name. I’m thinking ‘Rocky Road with a Twist.’ It has been a rocky road. I’ve been doing everything out of pocket one step at a time to get moving.”

Shannon Adair, owner of the 1188 Destinations gift shop that was destroyed in the fire, said she’s doing fine. Adair said she hopes to get her brewpub, which is next door to DP Home Entertainment, up and running again soon. The pub suffered minor smoke damage in the blaze.

“Right now we’ve got insurance, and as far as 1188 goes we’re doing really well,” she said. “We really appreciate all the positive thoughts and prayers that people are sending our way.”

Kimberly McManus owns Hair It Is, next to Mosier’s Home Furnishings just west of the burned building on Main Street. Her father, George Walker, lives in an apartment above her hair salon.

“I’m thanking God every day that my building is still standing,” she said.

McManus, who owns the building, said a disaster restoration company will help repair any smoke and water damage and she hopes to reopen her business at the same location soon. For now, McManus will be able to cut hair at the nearby Jonna’s Hair Care on North Canyon Boulevard just down the street from Mosier’s.

“I am very impressed with how (the fire crews) got it contained, and I’m thankful for all of them,” she said.

Wendy Cates, owner of Country Preferred Realtors, was also adversely affected by the fire. Cates said she hopes to reopen her office at 121 E. Main soon, after insurance and restoration matters are settled. In the meantime, she said Janet Hill, owner of The Floor Store and Java Jungle on the other side of Main Street, has allowed her to set up a space to conduct her real estate business inside Java Jungle.

“I want to donate money. … Our responders worked so hard in such adverse conditions, we want to donate to them,” she said. “They worked so hard to save my building.”

The public will have a chance to donate funds to assist local fire departments and businesses affected by the April 17 fire at a Cinco de Mayo benefit dinner and silent auction hosted by the John Day Elks Lodge, 140 N.E. Dayton St., on Friday, May 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. Donated items for a silent auction can be dropped off at Madden Realty, 237 S. Canyon Blvd. Cash donations can be mailed to or dropped off at the Elks Lodge.