It has been two months since an early morning fire destroyed three historic buildings in downtown Lovelock. All that remains is a large pile of debris that stretches across four parcels. A fourth building is still standing, thanks to a thick firewall that stopped the fire from spreading farther.

"They hadn't been registered as historic but some of them were built between 1920 and 1924," Mayor Michael Giles, City of Lovelock said. "The bank building that's still standing right now was built in approximately 1880."

There are still questions about the bank building's integrity. Giles says it will need an inspection to see if it is structurally sound enough to survive.

Giles say the process is going slower than it normally would. The fire happened November 18, right before three major holidays. That slowed down progress. The state fire marshal is still working on the final report, which should show what caused the fire. City leaders hope that is finished in a few weeks. In the meantime, it is working with property owners to clean up the debris.

"We want to get things cleaned up and get the property cleaned off so that at some point we can come back in there and redevelop or put something else in there that'll benefit the city of Lovelock," Todd Plimpton, Business Owner said.

Plimpton is the owner of two of the buildings that burned down. One was the home of the Pershing Pub and the other was a law office. He says he was in the process of renovations and was close to selling the properties for about $460,000.

"The upstairs of the law office was the old dance hall and had these beautiful old oak floors that we were trying to preserve and it was really a nice space," Plimpton said. "You know, you don't ever recover that."

Plimpton says he did not have insurance on the buildings. He says his insurance company pulled out of Nevada about six months ago, and he was in the process of finding a new insurance policy. He credits Giles and the city for taking a leadership role in finding a solution to resolve some of the problems.

"They've been really proactive with trying to engage on what solutions exist, where the city can help out the property owners," Plimpton said.

The city was awarded a $600,000 Brownsfield Grant in 2019 to revitalize blighted properties. The priorities for that funding will likely shift to the downtown core. The city is also looking for other outside funding sources, including state and federal block grants for community development.

"That grant program can then allow us to potentially help with redevelopment and revitalization of that area and it has been a successful program in other communities," Heidi Lusby-Angvick, Executive Director for the Pershing County Economic Development Authority said.

Two of the three property owners have agreed to an assessment of their properties.

Giles says the buildings are a huge loss to the city but says they also needed some upgrades. Some of which would have been very expensive.

"It could be a blessing in disguise for the City of Lovelock because now we could put three, four, maybe five pieces of property together and build a nice big building," Giles said.

He says a few companies are showing interest of acquiring the properties, saying the size of the land and the location are ideal for those businesses. 

Removing the debris is the first issue. Giles says the lowest estimate will cost $100,000.

"That's a pretty good-sized chunk of change and the city the size of us, we don't really have that," Giles said.

Burning Man has offered to pay $25,000 to go towards the clean-up. The plan would be to separate the bricks, steal and other debris on-site to save on landfill costs. He hopes other businesses and farmers can re-purpose some of it.

"The community is coming together," Giles said. "Everybody's working together but we don't have the authority yet to move in because it's still private property. We'll get through this. It just takes a little bit of time."

"It's been really nice," Lusby-Angvick said. "It's been nice to see the community, we always band together in hard times which I really love about this community."

There will be a meeting at the Lovelock Community Center to discuss the Brownsfield Grant funding and how it could work. Lusby-Angvick says the meeting is not intended to discuss the recovery efforts of the fire. The meeting is January 27 at 6:00 pm.