Shakopee, Minnesota — The Shakopee Fire Department provided additional information about the Thursday fire that destroyed several buildings on the grounds of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.
During a live press conference on the festival grounds with burned rubble in the background, Shakopee Fire Chief Mike Nelson stated that calls reporting a large fire began at 6:01 p.m., and his first engine was on the road one minute later. Firefighters arrived at the Renaissance Festival grounds 14 minutes later and found a large, multi-story row of commercial buildings on fire.
According to Chief Nelson, a third alarm was quickly called to summon more engines and firefighters, followed by a fourth to summon “water tenders,” or trucks that transport water, because the grounds do not have a municipal water supply. The tenders were emptied and then transported eight miles away to be refilled. Nelson believes fire crews were pumping 1,000 gallons per minute to extinguish the flames.
Firefighters immediately adopted a defensive posture in order to keep the flames from spreading to other buildings. At the peak of activity, the chief reports 86 firefighters from at least ten nearby fire departments.
Working with Renaissance Festival staff, fire officials determined that six structures were destroyed in the fire, but another fifteen to twenty were saved. Investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office, the ATF, and the Shakopee Fire Department are attempting to determine what started the fire, but Chief Nelson says a lightning report from last night’s storm shows four lightning strikes within a mile of the grounds, two of which were within half a mile.
Renaissance Executive Director Stephanie Whipps says the structures will be rebuilt and ready for the festival’s opening, which is only four months away.
Dawn Kieninger owns the New Pterodactyl Leather. She is one of three artisans who lost their booths in the fire.
“Someone called me at 8:30,” Kieninger said. “And said, well, I hope it’s a hoax, but it looks like maybe there’s a fire at the fair and it’s close to you.”
Kieninger owns several booths across the country, but her love for fairs began in Minnesota. Her career in entertainment began in 1981. She worked at other booths before starting her own.
“It’s like living in a small town that moves around the country,” Kieninger told me. “You see the same people you see, and some of them you don’t see for six months, and then you meet up again.”
While officials are confident the section will be rebuilt and ready by August, Kieninger believes the future of that particular booth is uncertain.
“I have tried in the past to get property insurance,” she told me. “Once you tell the insurance agents you own a building that sits vacant for ten months of the year on someone else’s property. They’re not too concerned about ensuring that.”
Kieninger has another booth at the fair, so she expects to return in August. She stated that numerous people had contacted her to inquire about her well-being.
“The community is so supportive,” she said.