Pena is reeling in the wake of the fire, grappling with the fact that he\u2019s lost everything he worked so hard for over the past few years \u2013 and wondering what he will do now to support his four children, aged five years old to twenty years old.<\/p>\n
![\"On](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SJM-L-TIREFIRE-0829-2.jpg\")
On Aug. 28, 2026, Baja Tires owner Giovanni Pena, 40, shows a photo of his shop, which was damaged by the three-alarm blaze on Tuesday morning. (Dai Sugano\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the money I have, I put it in there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pena opened the business in its current location on William Street one year ago after moving from San Carlos Street, where he had been located for four years, he said. The business wasn\u2019t yet profitable on its own, he said; he put all its income toward paying his employees.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not making too much money in there. It was just to survive, to pay the rent and the bills,\u201d he said. \u201cI was just hoping next year to have better sales.\u201d
\nA neighbor of the tire shop got in touch with Pena\u2019s wife around 5:40 a.m. on Tuesday, and she woke him up to the news of the fire, he said. He rushed to the scene, where he found the store completely engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a joke, or something small,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when I came there, it was everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pena did not own the building the tire shop was housed in, but the fire wrecked all his tools and supplies, as well as three cars he had on site. One was his daughter\u2019s car; she had scratched the bumper and Pena was fixing it for her, he said.<\/p>\n
When he was able to go back into the building to look around, he found most everything, including cash and his laptop, burned. The only item that survived was a Japanese toy gun from the 1950s \u2013 one of the toys he likes to collect.<\/p>\n
Pena\u2019s insurance policy has lapsed since he moved into the new location, he said, so he does not think he will be able to get reimbursement for any of the lost items.<\/p>\n
He plans to work for a friend\u2019s business to support his family, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to work,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t have any other option.\u201d<\/p>\n