RED LAKE — A fire has destroyed The Thirsty Moose Bar and Grill in Red Lake.
The Red Lake Fire Department was called to the restaurant during the late hours of Feb. 17, where smoke was seen billowing from the building.
"Just like every other fire, we had our unique challenges,” Red Lake fire chief Dexter Hupe said.
Hupe said as crews entered the building, they were met with some intense conditions.
“When the firefighters first got there, they opened up the door. They pulled the hose line inside to go fight the fire as you would see on TV. That’s when we started seeing some thicker black smoke. They were saying it was getting really hot there. Even with our personal protective equipment, it’s not going to protect us from everything,” Hupe said.
Hupe said the heat from the fire forced crews to abandon their efforts to extinguish the blaze inside.
“The moment we start feeling heat through our bunker gear, we know it’s getting really hot. That’s when the firefighters said, “Hey, we don’t feel like it’s safe for us to be in here.” We pulled everybody back out and we change our strategy and went to plan B,” said Hupe.
Plan B involved focusing on what Hupe called an exterior attack to ensure that the fire was contained to the building and not the surrounding area.
It took nine hours to put out the fire, according to Hupe. Seven fire trucks were on the scene with 28 volunteer firefighters present.
During the suppression effort, equipment was used to pull down the exterior wall and parts of the roof to flood the fire inside.
Hupe said the damage from the fire was so extensive that the cause cannot be determined.
“This fire resulted in very extensive damage to the structure and it does not allow us to get that data that we need to provide an educated opinion on what actually happened,” said Hupe.
Hupe said that he is extremely proud of his crews for their professionalism and efficiency.
“This is not our typical fire. This is not a fire that we go to on a regular basis, and being a volunteer service, we are fortunate enough to respond to two to three fires per year,” Hupe said. “I want to say great work to all the firefighters and first responders who were on the scene.”
