Fernley ACES board president Dana Uhlhorn speaks during an event at the Fernley Art Center. (Photo courtesy of Fernley ACES Facebook page)

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

The Fernley Art Center was damaged by a fire Friday afternoon and will be closed for several months during its renovation.

The fire started a little after 2 p.m. Fernley Art Culture Event Squad board president Dana Uhlhorn said a worker was clearing weeds around the building early Friday morning using a propane torch and had finished a couple of hours before the fire started. However, he said an ember had gotten inside the siding of the building and began smoldering.

Uhlhorn said he and the worker smelled the smoke and saw that there was about a six-inch hole burning under the crawl space. They got a hose and began trying to put the fire out, but it spread due to high winds.

The North Lyon County Fire District was paged to the fire at 2:12 p.m., but Uhlhorn said the fire destroyed the kitchen, bathrooms and the back half of the stage. North Lyon Fire was assisted by Storey County Fire and Central Lyon Fire, while Pyramid Lake Fire & Rescue assisted by covering the district for medical calls.

“If we weren’t right there before it took off, the whole building would have been gone,” Uhlhorn said.

Uhlhorn said the bathrooms, kitchen and stage will have to be rebuilt, but he said the kitchen and bathrooms were already in need of upgrades.

“Looking at the bright side, the bathroom wasn’t handicapped accessible and the kitchen wasn’t adequate for a commercial kitchen, so hopefully we’ll be able to upgrade those,” he said. “We have to look at the bright side.”

Uhlhorn said the repairs can hopefully be done within three to four months, but he said that will depend on insurance and how quickly they can get the permits and get the construction done.

The building was formerly the Fernley Community Center, but Fernley ACES now operates and maintains the building, hosting a variety of events and renting it out to other groups and individuals for events.

The North Lyon County Fire Protection District said the official cause of the fire is still under investigation.