As if things couldn't get worse.

WTIP

Bring Me The News

Oh no!!!

Well, that just breaks my heart. My future wife and I had a wonderful dinner at the Crooked Spoon Café the first year we were dating, and it has always held a special place for us. Thoughts and prayers go out to the owners and the community.

Oh no Nono.....

Well from looking at photos on Facebook it appears that Sven and Oles is fine as there is an alley in between them and the buildings that burnt. The Crooked Spoon and the building to the left of it when looking at it are a total loss. The gift shop to the right of The Crooked Spoon looks like it might not have been damaged much although I’m sure they have smoke and water damage. Having 34 yrs of experience as a firefighter, these guys did a great job of stopping it considering the huge amount of fire they had in the buildings.

We liked the Crooked Spoon and ate there several times. And the little White Pine North Gift Shop was my one "must stop here" place every time we were in town.

So upsetting!

OldFingers57: " Having 34 yrs of experience as a firefighter, these guys did a great job of stopping it considering the huge amount of fire they had in the buildings. "

Agreed and with aging equipment, the Duluth news just showed a clip of the fire with a International fire engine in it, that must have been built in the late 60's maybe early 70's at best.

Rhonda Silence reports from the scene of a fire in downtown Grand Marais that has burned three buildings, including Picnic and Pine and the Crooked Spoon Cafe. White Pine North also sustained heavy damage in the fire. Stay tuned for updates from WTIP as we know more.

Terrible news especially for a business to deal with this during this

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x2jmorris: "Terrible news especially for a business to deal with this during this"

+1, especially a restaurant. I ate there last fall and had eaten there before too. There's never enough insurance for that . . .

Really sorry to read this. Never a "good" time for this to happen but it seems exceptionally bad news at this period in our pandemic economy.

Darn good food. Hopefully they rebuild.

That being said I'm really surprised that with the shut down we don't hear about more small businesses catching fire.

minnmike: " Darn good food. Hopefully they rebuild.


That being said I'm really surprised that with the shut down we don't hear about more small businesses catching fire. "

I was kind of thinking the same thing, Mike.

Mike

luft: "Really sorry to read this. Never a "good" time for this to happen but it seems exceptionally bad news at this period in our pandemic economy."

+1

I live outside of Grand Marais and was in town during the fire to see things first hand. The local fire departments did an incredible job keeping the fire from spreading to Sven and Ole's as well as other businesses. Really strong gusty NW winds fanned the flames, and it was just not possible to save the structures that were involved.

Really sad, but one of the owners standing there watching their business (purchased in January) burn to the ground was already vowing to rebuild better than ever. The other good news is that there were no serious injuries.

minnmike: " Darn good food. Hopefully they rebuild.


That being said I'm really surprised that with the shut down we don't hear about more small businesses catching fire. "

Being in the firefighting business we have already been warned that we may see a large increase in the number of commercial building fires due to people setting them on fire due to the shutdowns.
I am in no way implying that is what the cause of this fire in Grand Marias was.