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A Los Altos shopping center that was engulfed by a fire on Christmas Day just entered its first phase of demolition on Wednesday afternoon.
The charred building at 4600 El Camino Real has been an obstacle for motorists for weeks, with eastbound traffic diverted away from a block of the road, from San Antonio Road to Sherwood Avenue, since Dec. 25.
The road is still closed and the city has not provided a date for when it will reopen.
In early January, the timeline for the reopening of El Camino Real was postponed, as vital equipment for the building’s demolition was delayed, according to news reports at the time.
But earlier this week, a contractor delivered the necessary equipment for demolition to begin, according to a Santa Clara County Fire Captain Matthew Mokhtarian.
The demolition, which started on Jan. 24, will occur in stages, with the removal of the building’s roof and the second story. This is expected to take several days, Mokhtarian said.
Once the partial demolition is complete, fire officials will go inside the structure to investigate the origin and cause of the fire, Mokhtarian said, adding that they are particularly interested in looking at the first floor. So far, investigators have been unable to access the building because of the threat of it collapsing.
The fire department will turn the building over to the city after the investigation, Mokhtarian said.
