“(I) pretty much just changed clothes and then this page went off,” Willmar Fire Chief Frank Hanson told the Willmar City Council on Monday while recapping Willmar Fire Department’s response to the derailment.
A cooking fire damaged the kitchen of the Panda Garden Buffet and caused heavy smoke damage throughout the building on Thursday morning. Employees safely evacuated the building as the Willmar Fire Department and firefighters from neighboring communities extinguished the blaze.
The Willmar Fire Department called in aid from neighboring departments due to the cold temperatures to battle a garage fire that spread to the adjoining house Sunday.