Fire at Renaissance Festival grounds destroys at least 6 structures

SHAKOPEE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Fire investigators are pinpointing the cause of a four-alarm fire that torched several small buildings at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival Thursday night.

Investigation underway

Lightning or Dragon's breath?:

They don’t have an official cause yet, but firefighters know of a few lightning strikes in the area and that’s the chief suspect.

"You know, we're going to be looking for those dragon tracks," said Stephanie Whipps, executive director of the Renaissance Festival.

It’s not likely that dragon’s breath sparked the fire, but the Whipps' joke Friday was the first sign of the festival’s own renaissance.

The night before, the fire looked unstoppable from the skies and from miles away on the ground.

"Callers from nearby highways thought they saw brush burning in a wooded area off of the highway but couldn't identify what was being burned," said Shakopee Fire Chief Mike Nelson.

A challenging battle

High difficulty:

The festival grounds don’t have a municipal water supply, so firefighters had to bring their own water from Shakopee and surrounding cities.

In all, about 86 firefighters battled the blaze from 36 fire vehicles.

Recent rains meant just driving onto the property was treacherous.

But fires at the remote Scott County site are a joust firefighters prepare to win.

"This is a little city of its own with not many of the advantages we have with named streets and everything," Nelson said. "But we do plan for fires in this situation."

The morning after

Saved by the wall:

Six small buildings, including three artisan shops, burned to ashes and still smoldered Friday.

With an assist from a concrete barrier, firefighters saved 15-20 connected buildings.

Investigators combed through the embers and interviewed the few employees who were on site.

"Once that's completed, we'll start planning and figure out where we're going to go from here," Whipps said. "We'll definitely plan to rebuild and open in August."

The good news is nobody was hurt and the fire only took out about 2% of the buildings here.

And a lot of people on social media say the fire is giving them a new reason to come out this summer, if turkey legs and Penn & Teller’s return weren't enough incentive.