A dozen commercial buildings on the Minnesota Renaissance Festival grounds in Shakopee were destroyed by a four-alarm fire on Thursday night, authorities said.
The Shakopee Fire Department received reports of the fire shortly after 6 p.m. The first engine left the station immediately and arrived 14 minutes later because of the distance between the station and the festival grounds between U.S. 169 and the Minnesota River, according to a Facebook post by the department. While they were on their way, a large smoke column could be seen, so fire officials called for more help, upgrading the call to a two-alarm blaze.
When firefighters arrived, they encountered “heavy fire conditions involving multiple connected commercial structures, which included retail shops and food vendors.”
A four-alarm fire was called and support from 10 area fire departments was needed to fight the blaze as well as help with other coverage in Shakopee.
“Water supply proved to be a significant challenge,” officials said, noting that the festival grounds are not connected to a city water system “requiring water tenders to shuttle water from hydrants nearly eight minutes away.”
In addition, officials said, access to the festival grounds was “further complicated by unlit, minimally maintained gravel roads, recent rainfall, and challenging terrain not designed for large emergency vehicles.”
The full extent of the damage is still being assessed. One firefighter from Shakopee was struck by a fire hose and had a minor injury that was treated at the scene, officials said.
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation by state and local investigators, but it broke out as thunderstorms were moving through the area.
Renaissance Festival organizers said they were making plans to rebuild and that the event celebrating Elizabethan England would open as planned on Aug. 16.