A first-of-its-kind San Francisco program that trains the next generation of makers is closed temporarily because of a fire, but Its founder is working to safely reopen as soon as possible.

Ryan Spurlock’s nonprofit, Humanmade, empowers hundreds of people with skills and tools they need to launch or get a job in design and maker businesses.

But a recent fire casts a shadow over the program he founded.

“It’s pretty tough. It’s hard enough given the cost of launching a business here and tooling a shop,” said Spurlock.

The fire apparently started in a surge protector under the table and the sprinkler system couldn’t put out the flames before fire crews arrived so there’s considerable smoke and water damage.

That includes about $50,000 in losses to equipment like 3D printers and computers.

“About 80% of computers are lost because they were on the floor,” Spurlock said.

His goal is to restore the 15,000-square-foot maker space we first visited two years ago. A lot of people are counting on it. Humanmade is home to San Francisco’s first community-based training center for advanced manufacturing. At any given time, dozens of underserved adults take a free 12-week training course to gain skills for jobs of the future.

But because of the fire, that valuable hands-on learning had to go virtual. Program graduate Jody Roane teaches students online while he sharpens his own skills, but he admits that he gets discouraged..

“It’s given me a sense of trepidation,” Roane said. “I finally figured out what I want to be in life and what I want to do, and then I reach another roadblock.”

The fire is also a setback for entrepreneurs from diverse communities who rely on Humanmade’s discounted access to equipment and mentoring to build their first tangible prototypes in sectors like robotics.

Those startups are scrambling for space.

“We’ve had some folks resort to using their home or garage,” explained Spurlock. “We’re doing our best to get things back up and running.”

And in the process, he’s taken a second look at his commitment to the maker community.

It helped to solidify why we do this – how important the work we do is, that there are very few of these spaces left in San Francisco,” Spurlock said.

The space is covered by fire insurance, but that takes time, so he has started a GoFundMe account for $50,000 with hopes of reopening in a few weeks after the fire investigation is done and the space is professionally cleaned.

As he crafts a comeback for his six-year-old nonprofit, some days are tougher than others, but the founder and executive director says he draws light and strength from his wife and family  – though not all of them are “human made.”

“The dog has been my saving grace in the last two weeks,” he laughed.

San Francisco’s decision to provide free beer and vodka to homeless alcoholics has sparked an uproar among some residents of the liberal city.

“How are you going to give [some] alcoholic some alcohol?” one man rhetorically asked Fox News contributor Sara Carter. 

“That’s some bull!”

The “Managed Alcohol Program” (MAP) operated by San Francisco’s Department of Public Health serves regimented doses of alcohol to voluntary participants with alcohol addiction in an effort to keep the homeless off the streets and relieve the city’s emergency services. 

Experts say the program can save or extend lives, but critics wonder if the government would be better off funding treatment and sobriety programs instead.

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Carter shared her conversations with a number of residents outraged by the pilot program on “Hannity” Tuesday.

“It’s really conflicting to give alcohol to alcoholics because it’s a disease. It’s a condition that is basically an obsession of the mind that turns into an allergy of the body. And it’s a disease that they can’t help,” another San Francisco resident told Carter. 

“You’re enabling, and the possibility is for them to die, end up in an institution or death.”

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MAP was established during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent vulnerable homeless people who were placed in isolation in hotel rooms from suffering from alcohol withdrawal. But the program, which started with 10 beds, has since been expanded into a 20-bed program that operates out of a former hotel in Tenderloin with a $5 million annual budget, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“If that’s what the program is and it’s giving away free alcohol, that’s not a good use of money,” one San Francisco resident said. 

Alice Moughamian, the nurse manager of the Managed Alcohol Program and the San Francisco Sobering Center, noted there is a larger goal beyond recovery for alcoholics. 

“Our goal at MAP is not to decrease the amount of alcohol that is consumed, or to taper someone towards abstinence, although both of these things have happened with clients in our program,” she said in the October presentation. “The goal is to mitigate the many health, legal and interpersonal harms associated with unsafe alcohol use.” 

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Many residents nonetheless feel the program is making the city an “enabler” of addiction and misusing taxpayer funds.

“I feel like they are being an enabler,” one man said. “They’re giving people alcohol who clearly has an addiction. So if you’re providing them with a means to get drunk, I mean, it makes no sense to me.”

“You don’t need to wean them off gradually,” another added. “Or if you are, don’t use taxpayer funds under the auspices of a government program to wean them.”

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.