Mendota Heights Fire Dept. Responds to Fire at Ansari's Mediterranean Grill and Lounge in Eagan

About 100 firefighters, including a team from the Mendota Heights Fire Department, responded to in Eagan early Wednesday morning after a fire broke out. The restaurant is likely a loss, said Eagan Fire Chief Mike Scott, though midmorning Wednesday he said it was too early to tell the exact cause of the fire.

Nobody was inside the building, near Cliff Road and Rahncliff Road, when the first alarm went off at about 4:45 a.m., he said. The last employee had left around 3 a.m., Scott said.

The first responders saw heavy smoke and flames through the roof above the restrooms and kitchen, Scott said. Responders called for a second alarm, then a third. All six Eagan fire units and one Apple Valley unit responded first, he said.

Eventually, about 100 firefighters from Eagan, Apple Valley, Mendota Heights, Inver Grove Heights and Burnsville were on the scene, he said.

According to Scott, the cold proved challenging for firefighters trying to battle the fire.

"It's just beating us up," Scott said.

On top of firefighters needing to take breaks from being out in the negative temperatures, the ladder on one of the trucks froze and the first fire hydrant they tried to use also was frozen, he said.

A tent was set up in the parking lot of the next-door strip mall for firefighters to warm up, and they also rotated sitting in trucks or going inside a nearby business to keep warm, Scott said.

He said firefighters would likely be out for several more hours at the scene to put out hotspots.

Ansari's had just moved to the location about a year and a half ago, Scott said.