Two Minneapolis firefighters were injured while battling a fire in a restaurant.
A cook at Heidi’s Restaurant at 819 W 50th St. carried a flaming pan outside, and put it in a snow bank.
The cook said they had contained a grease fire. The fire-suppression system unit above the stove went off as designed. Fifteen minutes later, the heating contractor was on the roof and noticed smoke coming from the edge of the roof. He notified employees of the restaurant who called 9-1-1.
The Minneapolis Fire Department dispatched a full assignment to multiple reports of smoke from a one-story commercial building. Responding were MFD E27, L5, E28, Chief 2, Richfield E2 (auto-aid), MFD Salvage, L11, Rescue 1, Chief 3, and the Mobile Command unit.
Crews opened up the ceiling and cut a holes in the roof attempting to locate and extinguish the fire. They found fire rapidly spreading in a common cockloft.
Firefighters initiated an at interior attack.
The fire rapidly spread in the common cockloft. One firefighter was hurt when part of the ceiling collapsed on her back and another suffered facial cuts from broken glass.
When conditions rapidly deteriorated, the incident commander ordered crews out of the building.
The commander called for a second-alarm, and companies were ordered to set up for an exterior attack.
The commander called for a second-alarm, and companies were ordered to set up for an exterior attack.
The 2-2 Alarm brought MFD E22, E8 and a Richfield engine (auto-aid) and miscellaneous MFD supervisors to the scene.
The fire quickly broke through the roof in the southeast corner of the building and slowly progressed westward. After more than an hour, most of the roof had burned away.
The six upscale businesses on the very popular residential block were a total loss. Relief crews remained on the scene for most of the night to extinguish hot spots.
